ObZen
| obZen | ||||
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| Meshuggah studio album | ||||
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Publication |
March 7, 2008 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
52 min 25 s |
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Studio (s) |
Fear and Loathing Studio, Stockholm |
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obZen is the sixth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Meshuggah . It was released on March 7, 2008 via Nuclear Blast . It is the first album with bassist Dick Lövgren, who has supported the band live since 2004.
History of origin
In March 2007, the recordings for the album began in the recording studio "Fear and Loathing" in Stockholm . For the drum tracks , in contrast to the previous album Catch Thirtythree , the drum computer “Drumkit From Hell” was largely dispensed with and the drums were played live again. At the end of October 2007 the recordings for obZen were completed. Tomas Haake, the main songwriter , was voted best drummer in the Metal category in the drum and percussion magazine Modern Drummer .
The album was originally planned for November 2007, in time for a European tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan . However, after the recordings took longer than planned, the tour was canceled. The band later commented on their official website and announced that the promotion of the album would have to wait due to the postponed release date and that they wanted to concentrate fully on the completion of their recordings.
A video was shot for the song "Bleed" and was released on January 13, 2008. It was produced and written by Ian McFarland. A drum competition was also held. Every drummer was given the opportunity to play along with “Bleed” and publish their best reproduction as a video via YouTube or Myspace . Tomas Haake personally appointed the jury and evaluated the submitted attempts.
style
According to guitarist Mårten Hagström, obZen is stylistically a step back to the roots:
“With us, every new record is always a reaction to the previous work. "Catch 33" was a monolithic, nightmare-like soundtrack that consisted of just one 47-minute song. After a long, long time this time we were finally looking forward to being able to record songs with a real song character. Furthermore, we are always looking for new challenges, and the challenge for "ObZen" was to go back to the roots and still somehow integrate the entire MESHUGGAH cosmos in order to create something new from it. "
background
The title of the album is a play on words from the two words "obscene" ( English for " obscene ") and " Zen ". It is a metaphor for humanity trying to find its inner peace through bloodshed and greed .
The album cover shows a male person with three arms in the lotus position , in the moment of perfect zen. The person is covered in blood and keeps their eyes closed. While the three-armed configuration represents a symbol for the Hindu deity Ardhanarishvara , the hands, which are particularly emphasized by blood, each form a six. The resulting number six hundred and sixty-six , which is particularly important in occultism , ensured that the cover was censored in the United States , which means that the album can only be sold with a slipcase that restricts the scene. The cover was designed by Joachim Luetke, who also created the Dimmu Borgir album In Sorte Diaboli . The lower half of the picture was created with the help of a female model , as the male model was unable to sit in the lotus position.
Track list
| No. | title | length | music | text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Combustion | 4:09 | Thordendal | Haake |
| 2 | Electric Red | 5:51 | Hagstrom, Haake | Haake |
| 3 | Bleed | 7:23 | Thordendal | Haake |
| 4th | Lethargica | 5:47 | Hagstrom | Haake |
| 5 | Obzen | 4:24 | Hagstrom | Haake |
| 6th | This Spiteful Snake | 4:52 | Hagstrom, Haake | Haake |
| 7th | Pineal Gland Optics | 5:12 | Thordendal | Haake |
| 8th | Pravus | 5:10 | Hagstrom | Haake |
| 9 | Dancers to a Discordant System | 9:36 | Thordendal | Haake |
reception
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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The album sold over 11,400 copies in the United States in the first week and about 50,000 copies in the first six months. In Sweden obZen reached number 16 on the album charts and in the United States it also rose to number 59 on the Billboard 200 charts. In the UK , the album reached number 151 on the charts.
Rock hard writer Volkmar Weber describes the album as “a renewed demonstration of what is musically feasible” and awards it a grade of 9. Oliver Schneider, journalist for the Powermetal.de webzine, describes the album as “world domination to music”.
Petra Schurer from the German Metal Hammer awards the highest grade 7 in the category "Progressive Metal" and praises above all the complexity of the album and the musical skills of the musicians:
“[Meshuggah] have outstanding instrumental skills, they play and use them to the full, but always turn down a notch when there is a danger that a song will drift into a willlessly technical one. Only a few succeed. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Meshuggah: New Album Title Revealed ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net, Nov. 12, 2007; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah - Tomas Haake is Metal Drummer # 1 . stormbringer.at; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ^ Meshuggah - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Tour canceled . meshuggah.net, September 11, 2007; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah Explains The Dillinger Escape Plan Tour Cancellation ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermout.net, Sep. 11, 2007; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah: 'Bleed' Video Available . ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net, May 14, 2008; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah 'Bleed' Video Drumming Competition . ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net, Mar. 18, 2008; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ↑ Interview with Mårten Hagström. rockhard.de; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ a b Meshuggah: New Song 'Bleed' Available On MySpace ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net: Feb. 5, 2008; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Illustration of the cover ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. nuclearblast.de; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah - “obZen” cover censored in USA! stormbringer.at; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah - Nuclear Blast Video Cast - Episode Two - Part 3 - Interview youtube.com; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ obZen in the Swiss hit parade hitparade.ch; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah in the Swedish charts swedishcharts.com; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ^ A b Artist Chart History - Meshuggah billboard.com; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ↑ Meshuggah's 'obZen' cracks 50,000 US sales marks . ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net, Sep. 17, 2008; Retrieved November 3, 2008
- ↑ CD Review rockhard.de; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ^ CD review powermetal.de; Retrieved November 4, 2008
- ↑ CD-Review ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. metal-hammer.de; Retrieved November 4, 2008
