By Lisa Burke
October 19th 2016, The Novo, Los Angeles CA: One misguided ideology in the world of heavy metal is that you can listen to an album and have some clue what a particular band will sound and feel like in a live setting, however I’m here to tell you there are many instances where you end up completely wrong in the sense that they were either painfully or pleasantly opposite of what you imagined in real life. Meshuggah is a perfect example of a band that goes completely underrated until exposure on a face to face level, and on Wednesday October 19th at The Novo in downtown Los Angeles I finally had my first chance at a live encounter with them which was a brutally phenomenal experience to say the least.
Oakland’s High On Fire was the one and only support band joining Meshuggah on this tour, and sometimes less is more on an occasion such as this, as these are two highly intense bands to process on their own. Vocalist and guitarist Matt Pike has stoner thrash down to a science at this point and commands the stage accordingly, sporting his signature bare-chested attire. I believe this natural fashion he sports is due to the intense sweat he works up while playing which I can only imagine must turn the back of his guitar into a slip-n-slide by the end of the show. His gritty vocals spark a chord reminiscent of Lemmy Kilmister at times, yet his style is of his own making and the riffs are primarily full of stoner/sludge madness. At a High On Fire show what usually goes unnoticed are the other two members in the band, bass player Jeff Matz and drummer Des Kensel who are actually quite valuable and skilled. The sound on this night was perfection and the set list was full of what the crowd wanted to hear. This band has actually grown on me since the first time I saw them where the monotony ensued after a while, but now I believe the addition of a few songs from their latest album from 2015, ‘Luminiferous’, as well as the fun songs with obvious connotations to marijuana such as ‘Fertile Green’ help play a part in adding spice to the soup. Notably, Matt Pike took a moment between songs to yell at the crowd at one point telling them there wasn’t enough weed being smoked in the audience which of course got everyone riled up with laughter. All in all, it was a well played early set beginning at 8 PM that lasted a bit over an hour in its entirety.
High On Fire set list:
01. The Black Plot
02. Carcosa
03. Rumors of War
04. Serums of Liao
05. Slave the Hive
06. The Falconist
07. Turk
08. Fertile Green
09. Blood from Zion
10. Snakes for the Divine
Two minutes into the ruckus that is Meshuggah I was filled to the soul with energy and aggression as well as wild intellect. This math metal band, or Einstein metal as it is sometimes referred to, was churning at full force through my brain cells and trying to comprehend it all is similar to trying to understand the ins-and-outs of brain surgery just out of the womb. The strobing lights work as another element to the music’s timing and even the stance of the four bold human silhouettes blaring out the grooves in opposing times factors in a notion of intimidation. This Swedish band has taken years before reaching their worthy limelight, yet in the process they influenced the djent movement and some newer progressive bands with their polyrhythmic grooves. Although there is definitely a death metal element in this band, it also reminds me of some of the rhythms that happen in New York hardcore from the ’90s and the feeling I used to get in an angry east coast mosh pit at sixteen years old. Basically, Meshuggah the live band invokes healthy aggression in your head whether you notice or not, and because head banging with the opposing ticking clocks that are playing conflicting yet cohesive metal on stage becomes the upmost challenge of the day guaranteed to set you up for failure, you end up with the desire to mosh no matter where you are standing. There were quite a few circle pits happening throughout but the best time had was watching the security dudes as well as the bartenders uncontrollably convulsing to the beats of the music in a brutal but also happy-go-lucky way. The drumming alone with the seizure-inducing lighting is a one of a kind experience and you just can’t find that just listening to an album of theirs. Their latest album ‘The Violent Sleep Of Reason’ adds a whole next level to the show and is a far cry from ‘Nothing’ which when I first listened to I had to put away after four songs due to the monotony that drilled its way into the anger nerves in my brain. In a live setting, any album and any song is still miles better of an experience, and it really is somewhat indescribable. In a way it’s as if you are riding your favorite roller coaster over and over again each time enjoying it more than the last, because you know how much chaos to expect so you finally relax and just enjoy the flows and jolts of the ride. When the song ‘Bleed’ came on, I’m pretty sure everyone’s brains started hemorrhaging metal, and beer was spilled while chaos rang loud into the night. There was one entertaining modest hero security guard who kept wiping up the spilt beer on the mosh pit floor and then quietly going back to his post to commence the convulsive dance to the metal insanity on stage. The decor of their stage banners were also really well done even though mostly the lighting and chaos in the audience tried their best to distract from its presence. Beats, beats, and other opposing beats smashing together and weaving in and out of each other in the most beautifully progressive and brutal way is what Meshuggah provides, and the fans indulge.
The moral of this metal show tale is that there is no rest for the wicked after a Meshuggah brain frying expedition nor should there be, and you definitely should not ever judge a book by its cover as you will end up missing out on some of the greatest stories ever written. The end.
Meshuggah set list:
01. Clockworks
02. Born in Dissonance
03. Sane
04. Perpetual Black Second
05. Stengah
06. The Hurt that Finds You First
07. Lethargica
07. Do Not Look Down
08. Nostrum
09. Violent Sleep of Reason
10. Dancers to a Discordant System
11. Bleed
Encore:
12. Demiurge
13. Future Breed Machine
Remaining Tour Dates:
10/31 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
11/02 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
11/03 – New York, NY @ Playstation Theater
11/04 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero Theatre
11/05 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
11/05 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore