MESHUGGAH — Immutable (review)

Album · 2022 · Progressive Metal

4.5/5 · 2023-10-14
UMUR

"Immutable" is the 10th full-length studio album by Swedish technical extreme metal act Meshuggah. The album was released through Atomic Fire Records in April 2022. It´s the successor to "The Violent Sleep of Reason" from 2016. Recorded at Sweetspot Studios, Halmsted, Sweden, "Immutable" is a self-produced affair. Guitarist Mårten Hagström is credited for most of the songwriting, although bassist Dick Lövgren also has a few secondary songwriting credits and a primary songwriting credit on "The Abysmal Eye". Drummer Tomas Haake is credited for writing most of the lyrics. But that´s more or less been the songwriting constellation in Meshuggah since "Koloss" (2012), which was the last album where lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal contributed to the songwriting.

Although Meshuggah have a core sound that they haven´t deviated much from since "Chaosphere" (1998), they have always challenged themselves and their audience with little changes and experiments on each new release and that trend is continued on "Immutable". "Immutable" however presents one of the more significant changes in sound Meshuggah have produced in a number of years incorporating more atmospheric sections, more melody, an element of minimalism, and even an acoustic intro to the 9:35 minutes long instrumental centerpiece track "They Move Below". Parts of the album are even bordering accessible, which is a word I have never before used to describe Meshuggah. So while "Immutable" certainly still features its fair share of odd-metered heavy riffs and rhythms, alien sounding jazz/fusion influenced leads, and Jens Kidman´s angry shouting vocals in front, the album is ultimately not quite as relentlessly uncompromising as their last many preceding releases. While I have always hailed the uncompromising nature of their past releases, it´s actually nice to hear Meshuggah deliver a more accessible and compositionally varied release.

Other than "They Move Below", Meshuggah have opted to put two more instrumentals on "Immutable". "Black Cathedral" is a mid-album breather track (not that it´s a mellow track), which is quite different from the tracks surrounding it, and then "Past Tense" which closes the album. "Past Tense" is a beautiful, minimalistic, atmospheric, and melancholic clean guitar track, which closes the album in great style. After being pummeled and beaten by Meshuggah for over an hour before that (with only a few atmospheric and melodic moments to break the violent and relentless heaviness and aggression), it´s perfect with a mellow, atmospheric, and melancholic sounding closing track.

The remaining part of the album is a punishing and demanding listen (which isn´t surprising considering the sound and style of the previous releases by Meshuggah), and like on most preceding releases not all tracks stand out equally much, but I´ll mention "Broken Cog" and "Ligature Marks" as some of the standout tracks on the album. They are both some of the tracks on the album where you can hear that Meshuggah have evolved and that they are still willing to try new things. Listen to the last minute of "Ligature Marks" for proof of that...eh there´s even a harmony guitar part...

"Immutable" is packed in a clear, heavy, meaty, and detailed sounding production, which suits the material perfectly and upon conclusion it is another high quality release from Meshuggah. I´d even go as far as to call the album a standout release in the band´s discography. Like most Meshuggah releases, the relentless aggression and the difficulty to tell songs apart are also minor issues on "Immutable", but that´s nothing new in the world of Meshuggah, and if you haven´t gotten used to it by now, chances are you never well. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.