Misassociation of metal with mediocrity - as in Poison and Winger - has spurred all media forms to ignore this genre. But today there seems to be a resurgence of interest in it. Proof of this can be seen in the recent feature stories in Rolling Stone magazine and on MTV about contemporary metal acts.
Although the mainstream seems to finally be catching up with what's been going on in the metal underground, heavy music fans the world over have known for a while now what everyone else is slowly figuring out: Metal is still a strong and vibrant scene.
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Arguably metal's finest band today, the group combines complex polyrhythms, jazz sensibilities and that unmistakable element of the hard stuff to create music that both punishes and enthralls. Although the group has barely toured, strong word of mouth has made them legendary with musicians and fans of metal.
Despite the solid reputation Meshuggah has established worldwide, lead singer Jens Kidman, spoke modestly of the present flood of attention the group has been receiving.
"We've been playing for about 10 years. Through the years we've never had that much attention, possibly because of the complex structure in all our songs. Even though we've only done four shows in America, it's really interesting that 95 percent of the feedback we receive is from America. So we're really happy that finally somebody likes our music," he said.
"It seems like in Europe they are 10 years behind and only listen to Iron Maiden. That kind of music. In Germany the poofy hairstyle and tight jeans is still popular. So are hockey haircuts," Kidman said.
"We've also heard that the metal scene in America has been going down in the past couple of years so we didn't even think about coming to America," Kidman said.
(But) "this past summer since we would be touring for a three-year-old record. But we still got the response that we got and we just looked at each other thinking, 'What's going on here? What's happening?' So we're really happy about the response," he said.
Speaking of the situation of the media ignoring this style of music, Kidman was not shy about with the accusations. "I think maybe MTV is to be blamed for that. They took away "Head Bangers Ball" in the US and in Europe. You know that they just show crap now. I can't understand how they can do that. Its like MTV thinks everybody in the whole world listens to only one type of music which is totally wrong," he said.
The singer also spoke about how many times the band would be on the brink of a major breakthrough but was undermined by unavoidable setbacks. "We had a big hype thing going when we had our "Destroy, Erase, Improve" album and we toured with Machine Head for nine weeks in Europe, but not that much happened after that," Kidman said.
"Maybe it's our own fault as we didn't rehearse for a year, didn't do any shows. Our guitarist Fredrik (Thordendal) took that time off to do his solo album and we lost our bass player. We didn't bother touring in the US or Europe after all that. Then recently we had to cancel plans to support our new "Chaosphere" album because of financial problems," he said.
In light of these problems, Kidman accepted the realities of the business he is in as part of the road they must travel. "Record companies, I understand that they just want to make money. I understand that. But I think it's a shame that they don't let bands who may not sell that much but who make good music get a chance," he said.
"But I understand that the bands are their income. There's just too much business in the whole thing. It's really hard. Its always trouble. We've been given promises for this and that but when we get there it's never like anything we get promised. You don't take that much seriously that comes to you," Kidman said.
And not taking things too seriously seems to be what Meshuggah is all about. "It's really important to have a sense of humor. At least we try because most bands try so hard to be serious and I think it's just worn out. Its been done for ages," Kidman said.
Then there is Meshuggah's amazing music. Listeners of all types cannot help but at least be awed by the group's talents with their instruments and ideas. The diversity among the people who appreciate the group's music, inevitably seems to spark a debate as to wether Meshuggah is really metal, or some other musical hybrid.
"I don't care what people say we sound like. A lot of people like to put us in a box when they want to describe our music. Some people will say we sound like Pantera, Machine Head or Fear Factory. But I don't care," Kidman said.
"Usually we say that we just play hard music, aggressive music - mechanical sounding music with a swing feel. There's some elements of jazz, but it's definitely not jazz! Some people will get it totally wrong and say that were playing aggressive jazz. That's just totally wrong! Its still metal in some way. Our rhythms are really hard to place," Kidman said.
Kidman alluded to Meshuggah's song writing process for its last release, "Chaosphere." "We don't make any music together in the rehearsal studio. We sit at home separately. Me, Morten and Fredrik sit at home on the computer with Tomas' drums on the sampler," he said.
"So we get really good sounds on the home recordings with the bass, drums and guitars on it. For example if I make a one or two minute song I would e-mail it to the other guy and ask what they think about it," Kidman said.
"It makes it easier to make songs but then again you kind of miss getting together in rehearsal and making riffs that way," he said.
"When we have the songs completely finished on the computer, Tomas sits down with his lyrics and talks on where the vocals should be and I learn from that," Kidman said.
Meshuggah's future looks rather bright in the light of recent news that the heavy metal kings of Slayer decided to pick them up as an opening act for an upcoming American tour.
02-25-99
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