Coming off of their violently frenetic Chaosphere album highlighting a thrash sound, Meshuggah dial in with deliberate and calculated grooves that enlist more of their fusion influences on their Nothing album. Tomas Haake also trades in his grotesque and horror-fueled lyrical themes in favor of philosophical and metaphysical concepts instead. The resultant combination of maturation marks a distinct shift in Meshuggah’s discography, positively transforming their sound and cementing their iconic legacy not only in metal, but in all of existence. The last bit may be hyperbole, but the effect this album created on the future of metal cannot be understated. Each track unfolds flowingly into the next as Meshuggah explores new compositional rules and forms. They establish their own musical principles by echoing them and developing them before breaking them apart when you least expect it. Meshuggah actually pushed the final production of this record to finish it way sooner than they hoped, so the fact they still tapped into such a deep level of compositional genius on a time constraint speaks volumes of their masterful talent. Regardless of circumstance, nothing about Nothing feels rushed. It stands whole and complete as a symphonic masterpiece.

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Meshuggah begins with a rhythmically perplexing guitar pattern only accessible to your right headphone or speaker. The mix shifts to full stereo as the same rhythmic pattern is played with the addition of drums and bass, revealing its deceptive numeric sequencing. This track feels almost more like a funk tune than a metal one until Jens Kidman barks his way into the sonic scene. His vocals become an added percussive feature, mimicking the guitar lines at times and providing counterpoint at other times. Fredrik Thordendal swings in with a melodiously jaunty guitar solo that stirs the track into one final flurry before the entire band returns to the opening rhythm yet again at its maximum density.

“Rational Gaze” slams in next with one of Meshuggah’s most brilliantly recognizable riffs. This cleverly complex little pattern sits on top of a straightforward 4/4 beat that has everyone head banging regardless of their theoretical knowledge of music. Haunting leads make the track sound gargantuan, giving an impression of impressive vastness amid an astral plane. Kidman’s harsh vocals almost have a discernible pitch, and one that he sits on for most of the song. The simplicity of this single “note” choice brings a Zen-like quality to the composition. The members of Meshuggah clearly want you to focus on rhythm here. This is even made more clear in the way Thordendal delivers his solo. Ripe with feisty syncopation, it starts and stops with frustrated crunchiness. The track ends with a fade out as they play a variation on that oh so perfect opening line.

Infectious and thumping, “Perpetual Black Second” boils along at a fast pace, alternating between bouts of rhythmic jabbing and utter bludgeoning. The combination absolutely floods the senses, making them feel as if they’re gasping for air at the surface before being re-submerged into their drowning state. Thordendal shreds away with an electrically disorienting tapping solo this time around. The bewilderment it causes luckily receives a remedy in the song’s outro as the band plays an unevenly groovy riff that slowly decrescendos into the distance, dissolving the track into…nothing.

Lopsided rhythmic displacements begin this song to create a sensation of being tossed around on an angry ocean. Kidman screams away at the helm of the ship navigating us through the unforgiving rhythmic waters. Thordendal paints a hauntingly melodic and melismatic solo amid such a tumultuous storm. His introspective guitar playing feels meditative as an eerie reprieve follows it. Dreamy and spacey plucked guitar notes fall gently yet deliberately like rain drops in an eye of the storm before the band re-emerges and brings us back into its seesaw world of unease.

Following the trend of the previous tunes, Meshuggah begins again with a contagiously complicated beat cycle that creates a determined sense of disorientation. Lost in the thick jungle of sound produced by so many rhythmic layers, Thordendal cuts through the dense sonic texture with a chaotic solo that dances around maniacally like a crazed animal wailing and spinning around in distressed agony. This poor metaphorical animal gets put out of its misery as the band swallows it up with great ferocity. After a few passes through of the opening riff again, the listener also gets kindly put to rest as the track ends with a hard cut off.

Meshuggah deceptively disorients us by panning from full stereo to hard left and back to full stereo again within the opening few seconds. Along with this analog trickery, Meshuggah’s rhythmic play continues to play games with us, constantly morphing and evolving where you least expect it. Despite such shapeshifting, the overall effect comes across as one coherent and funky groove. Thordendal’s solo matches the same mismatched quality by alternating between melodic messages, stabbing attacks and cascades of shredding. This song ends with yet another fade out leaving us to ponder the nature of these devilish yet driving riffs.

“Straws Pulled at Random” jumps alive with a party-like opening that will make you want to dance. After coursing through rivers of swinging riffs and drum beats, Meshuggah deliver one of their most beautiful musical moments ever written. It consists of a simple yet perfect melody accompanied by a rhythmically displaced chord progression. Breaking from their usual sound world of diminished scales, they engage in a small progression of three chords that bring an uncharacteristic sense of optimism and hope. This unforgettably gorgeous musical moment transcends the genre and makes this song a go-to recommendation for non-metal fans looking to dip their toes into metal.

After such a heavenly musical outro, Meshuggah inevitably returns to their familiar demented soundscape with even more contorted zeal in “Spasm.” Kidman uses a sinister whisper-like speaking tone rather than his typical yells. They give the entire track a nimble and conniving quality, sneaking its way diabolically deep into your cerebellum. This goes against Meshuggah’s normal approach of dropping a ten-ton massive weight onto our skulls with monstrous riffing and an onslaught of screams. Thordendal adds flare with a solo that moans and meanders above the shifty underbeat. The track concludes with a stringy stretch of dissonant guitar patterns that alarmingly stop abruptly…

Enter the aforementioned ten-ton weight. “Nebulous”’ slow tempo emerges with colossal density that no mere mortal would ever hope to withstand. Haake’s drumming pounds along with an intimidating tribal quality. The evenly uneven cadences consistently plow forward relentlessly. Thordendal cries out desperately on his guitar with a solemnly gripping solo that feels like a final warning to be heeded. The sludginess of the beat gives the illusory feeling that time and matter are infinitely expanding. We’ve fallen into a black hole and must face an eternity of cosmic torture merging into the singularity (aka Meshuggah yet again end with a fade out for this track)

Dazed, destroyed, and existentially exhausted from everything thus far, “Obsidian” starts with a soft airiness lulling us into a sense of comfort. Safety is cast aside when Meshuggah pummel us relentlessly with repeated low notes and tormented leads betwixt with horror as each subsequent blow presses violently on our bodies, until each bone gets ground into a fine powder. Meshuggah fade out for one final time leaving us as a satisfied pile of dusty rubble.