Until now, Meshuggah has had poor visual representation. The band’s album covers are ugly. Its videos range from self-parodic (“New Millennium Cyanide Christ”, “Rational Gaze (Mr. Kidman Delirium Version)”) to cheesy CGI (“Shed”, “Rational Gaze (Official Version)“) to downright baffling (“Bleed”, “Rational Gaze (First Version)“). Perhaps such futility at matching image to sound is apt. Meshuggah has crafted its own sonic language, for which typical metal visuals would be inadequate.
Alive (Nuclear Blast, 2010), Meshuggah’s first concert DVD, offers the band’s most compelling visual imagery to date. Instead of engaging the band through its abstraction (which would lead to things like cheesy CGI), it portrays the band as humans. Concert selections from different cities alternate with interview segments. This avoids the monotony that can arise from watching a band continuously in the same setting. It also offers glimpses of touring life, from meeting fans to seeing the world from a bus window.
But it isn’t a human interest story. If anything, it cements Meshuggah’s image as a machine. The concert selections are in color, while the interview segments are in no-nonsense black & white. Unlike most band DVD’s, Alive has no tour hijinks, and it does not wax rhapsodic about fans or the road. Meshuggah’s members come off as professionals who care deeply about their craft and are inured to the sacrifices of touring. I don’t think this DVD has a single laugh in it.
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Yet it is a cause for joy. The Meshuggah feeling — deep, percussive, abrasive, yet hypnotic — comes through, perhaps with even higher fidelity than the band’s records. Meshuggah albums have been up and down production-wise, but Alive resounds with the heaviness of the band’s custom eight-string guitars and the rawness (raw for Meshuggah, anyway) of live recordings.
Just as importantly, it looks great. The camera work is full of impressively atypical framing. One shot places the band in the background with some water bottles in the foreground; another starts as a mass of hair, then reveals a guitarist as he lifts his head from the lens. Lighting is incisive throughout, and the band accents its music with dramatic bodily movements. The guitarists do slow, synchronized squats; vocalist Jens Kidman does a sort of epileptic robot dance. Meshuggah is usually described as cerebral, but its odd meters add up to something quite physical. Metal shows engage the eye, the ear, and the occasional elbow. Meshuggah now has a high-quality document of this.
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Love the review although have to disagree as to the album arts, I quite Catch 33 album art is nice, however the others are not so nice, anyway feel free to check out my own review site http://grindtodeath.blogspot.com/ , this Blog and Grind and Punishment inspired me to write my Blog.
I enjoyed this one, as well. Kudos to Meshuggah and NB for skipping band hijinks, which bores me to death in less than 30 seconds.
Since the first time I saw the teaser video I wanted to get this. After this review I must have it! Meshuggah are not my favourite band at all and I listen to them very often, but I really enjoy them when I’m in the mood for some brutal-yet-cerebral music. The additional footage is very interesting for me as well
Wow, just saw the new design and all I can say is, way to go, Cosmo. It’s great. Thanx for the great blog and, well, keep on rockin’. \m/
I was at one of the shows this was recorded at, it was a mindblowing tour. I wish The Faceless and Cynic had made DVDs from it as well.
‘comes through, perhaps with even higher fidelity than the band’s records.’
Interesting point. Because I noticed it too. I watched Alive 5 times in a week. At first I couldn’t understand why I found it so addictive, I wouldn’t listen to one of their albums that often, and certainly not all the way through. Then I realised it was the SOUND of a Alive that was so apealing. Alive sounds better than most of their recent albums. The music breathes, all the instruments have space,its musically interesting because of its sonic quality. Their albums don’t do that. It’s a shame records don’t sound as good. Are meshuggah’s albums a victim of the loudness war? given the contrast between thier records and dvd it would appear so.
It would apear so.
The loudness war is but one reason why records now don’t sound as good as live shows. The misguided pursuit of perfection and/or the lack of confidence in a band’s ability to play as a unit is also to blame. Meshuggah are a special case, because their sound is sort of inhuman, so inhuman production suits them. But as it turns out, human sound suits them even more.