Oh Meshuggah, one of the most important extreme metal bands of all time, hell they basically invented math metal, or calc metal if you will, but before they became the polyrhythmic monsters we know today they released Chaosphere back in 98, and damn if it isnt a different beast from what came after.
So the album kicks off with “Concatenation” and holy shit does it kick your teeth in, that galloping style just grabs you by the throat and doesnt let go, pure heaviness from the get go, no fucking around, just straight up aggression with those trademark start/stop rhythms that early Meshuggah was all about. Then we get into “New Millennium Cyanide Christ” and fuck me if this isnt one of the greatest metal tracks ever written, its more simple than later Meshuggah but thats what makes it so damn catchy, you can actually headbang to this without needing a fucking calculator. The way they hint at what they would become while still keeping their feet planted in more straightforward extreme metal territory is just brilliant.
“Corridor of Chameleons” keeps the momentum going with its paced approach, like a more restrained Concatenation but with some absolutely crushing breaks that just demolish everything in their path. “Neurotica” brings back that stop/go madness that made early Meshuggah so addictive, its not overly complex but rhythmically its just fucking amazing, catchy as hell without dumbing anything down. Then “The Mouth Licking What You’ve Bled” comes in with double tempo insanity, like the evil little brother of New Millennium Cyanide Christ, same kind of beats but with this sinister edge that just gets under your skin.
“Sane” dials it back a bit with the start/stop formula and a melodic break, its good but not the strongest track on here, kinda feels like theyre catching their breath before the next assault. “The Exquisite Machinery of Torture” is where things get really interesting because of the vocal approach, its more vocal driven with these calmer spots that give you a preview of things to come, still creepy as fuck though. And then we get to “Elastic” and what a fucking closer this is, 15 minutes of pure madness that has everything from the album rolled into one epic journey, the start/stop, the melodic interludes, those sweeping almost orchestral movements that descend into dark screeching guitar chaos, and of course the music is only 6 minutes long with 6 minutes of noise and then a garbled mess of song and noise, what a bizarre and perfect way to end things.
This is what I call a great listen, sure its less complex than the Meshuggah I fell in love with later, but its still a fantastic technical death metal album with tons of interesting catchy bits for you to explore, every single song brings something to the table, no filler bullshit here. Its like they took the best parts of extreme metal and twisted them just enough to make them their own without going completely off the deep end into the mathematical insanity that would define their later work. Totally recommend this one, especially if you want to hear where modern tech metal really started to take shape.