Immutable The Indelible Edition Review

It’s fair to say I have made peace with myself that I will not know all the bands from the Metal music scene. I have also made peace with myself that it does include celebrated bands which I have absolutely no clue of because I have never heard them. Believe it or not, titans Meshuggah are one of them, there are many of them, if you know what I mean. I am not lying about that, I have never heard a single line from the band. So, when I received “Immutable The Indelible Edition,” a new edition of the acclaimed 2022 album I knew it was my chance to finally meet the band.

As you all know I am a very patient person who besides writing reviews about albums I also like to give Metal music bands a chance. I do not hide from debatable albums or controvertial bands. I like what I like. I truely believe I am helping the bands when I write reviews of their albums. However, I have some kind of bad blood with bands critically aclaimed. Don’t ask me why. I just do. Besides, I have always admitted I do not like Industrial Metal, modern Metal and the likes. However, for my surprise, I happen to have reviewed very good bands from those Metal subgenres.

Well, around the nine years I have written here I have been hearing a lot about Meshuggah. Meshuggah this, Meshuggah that. The terms fantastic, titans, and groundbreaking are always associated with the band. So, I had to check them out myself. I do not know if it is just me, but it is always awkward to listen to a pioneer band after listening to its followers. I mean, there is that feeling “I’ve heard this before,” which, of course it is true because they are the pioneers. I had to keep this in mind while listening to “Immutable The Indelible Edition.”

The press released informs “Immutable The Indelible Edition” “new edition redefines the album’s depth and clarity, and includes three riveting live tracks recorded during Meshuggah‘s world tours in 2023 and 2024, all delivered in a distinctive grandeur of gold-foil accented packaging on vinyl and digipak format.” The burning question is why an album from 2022 received a new edition. My guess is that the band was not satisfied with the initial results and decided to give the album a new treatment. That’s a plausible hypothesis.

Ok, “Immutable The Indelible Edition” commences with “Broken Cog,” a track that had more effect on me today listening for the second time than yesterday at first listening. I guess it was the “I’ve heard this before” feeling only that this time I am listening to the pioneers. As I said I kept this in mind. I have to say I found interesting the guitars overtones as they sound as they are not there, but in fact they are inside the incredible mass of sound the band produces with the keyboards and the bass. But it was following track “The Abysmal Eye” that made me understand a little what Meshuggah‘s music is all about. For that I had to close my eyes and listen to it carefully. It worked. I felt like the song had two distinct parts; one was the vocals, the other the instrumentals. At first, they do not match. The initial impression was that instrumentals sounded like a mass of sound totally out from vocals, but with the eyes closed I felt they do match in Free Jazz way. They kind of complement themselves. I realized that Meshuggah‘s ingenuity is subtle, very subtle to the naked eyes. On the other hand, the insistent pounding of “Ligature Marks” showed a very different band where the guitars leave the way to the drums and bass make the msmerizing pounding that, to some extent, annoys the fan.

After listening to all the album, a long album I must say, first thing that comes to mind is the incredible mass of sound the band produces. It’s interesting how the guitar helps with creating this mass of sound not doing its standard role with the riffs. Meshuggah‘s guitar playing, and therefore, riffing is something apart from mudane bands. Its role, most of the time, is to be part of the intense mass of sound making noise or being a part of the estructures that support the mass. Same reasoning to the leads, but instead, they follow a Free Jazz concept. Even more standard songs as “Light the Shortening Fuse” follow subtly this concept. Other times, as in “Phantoms,” the guitars sound to be part of the percussion. In “Ligature Marks,” for instance, the melody is in the background effects making a contrast with the excessive pounding.

Musicwise, there is very little melody in Meshuggah‘s music which might lead the fan to some estrangemente because melody is what puts everything together. It’s clear Meshuggah‘s intent to subvert standard music by subverting the roles of each instrument especially the guitars. This lack of melody is what makes their music so heavy even in terms of Extreme Metal. Meshuggah‘s music is not fast, it’s heavy in a jazzy way where instruments create a musical chaos and disorder because they untrained ears cannot distinguish the notes and everything else. Most times not even the instruments are distinguisable.

Meshuggah‘s music is some kind of experience, if you know what I mean. Its subversion of the commonly accepted patterns is amazing. I have to admit my first time listening to Meshuggah “Immutable The Indelible Edition” was a fantastic experience.

Meshuggah “Immutable The Indelible Edition” will be released on April 04th via Reigning Phoenix Music.

Track Listing: