QuoteYea, I mean they aren't all that bad of a band (they know how to play their shit, no one can argue that) but I wouldn't buy their shit. I've always seen being "weird", or technical or "difficult" just for the sake of it, lame. Most of their material is complete "wankery", the epitome of overdramatiscized "talent". The rhythm loves his groovy riffs and triplets, the drummer utilizes poly-rhythms with little bass-drum work (POLKA!) Aimless mathcore stumbling with groove. No thank you.
I think that's being too harsh on
Meshuggah, although it is true to a lesser extent. I think
Contradictions Collapse,
Destroy Erase Improve and
Chaosphere are awesome albums, but the quality of subsequent albums is indeed lower. I only like certain songs on
Nothing and I still can't believe how much worse that album in general is compared to their previous stuff. It was rather similar to
Chaosphere but it was mostly boring. I gotta give
Catch Thirtythree a listen again as I haven't heard it in years (what I remember most is the (I think) Autotune vocals in the middle were a putoff for me).
ObZen had some great songs (
Bleed being the best) but the rest just sounded the same as their previous stuff -- boring again. The EPs I quite like, although I still don't know how much I like
I. If memory serves me right, that EP again contained nothing really new. And that leaked song (
Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion) from the upcoming album is a major disappointment - sounds like it could've been on Nothing; quite boring. So while I don't agree fully with the criticism above because even their last couple albums have great songs on them, the majority of these albums is, sadly, quite accurately described by it.
Meshuggah invented a style entirely their own and perfected it very quickly, only to not be able to progress it further and start stagnating. I still have high hopes for their new album and really hope they find a way to move forward.