Ah fuck, here we go again with the Swedish math metal lunatics, Meshuggah, and damn if “The Violent Sleep of Reason” isnt a different beast. I heard they recorded this one all together in the studio, instead of separate tracks and then combining them later, and shit if it doesnt show, its not perfect in the best of ways, what you lose in precision you gain in raw playing, its like jazz improvisation meets calccore, that little spark of playing together just melds it all together, and inside all of Meshuggahs intricacies, its hard to find any fault.
So we kick off with “Clockworks” and uff what a track, this album is back to more weird time signatures and groovy madness, this track showcases it all, heavy complex stuff thats a bit all over the place but still clean and groovy, and that double bass chorus is some of the most heavy complex stuff Meshuggah has ever made, amazing! Then we get “Born in Dissonance” and you follow up with a song called born in dissonance, you want a lesson on musical dissonance? This is it, its a beautiful work of art of weird time signatures and well heavy dissonance, things seem to go up or down its a beautiful heavy complex track.
“MonstroCity” is a bit of a wall of sound groove track, maybe to give you a palate cleanser after those opening tracks, while “By the Ton” is another heavy groove track, this time pulled from the guitars doing double rhythmic work, screeching and melodic all combining into a fantastic groovy track. The title track “Violent Sleep of Reason” shows what its all about, again a complex track, super groovy with weird time signatures all over the place, this must have been hell to record in one go, half way through it goes into an amazing headbanger that is so weird, this is what Meshuggah does best and it is amazing!
“Ivory Tower” is a bit like born in dissonance, another song filled with weird time signatures and dissonance, still its super groovy as it grows while it progresses, it gives you weird guitar solos and crescendos, ending in a dreary growl its pretty nice. “Stifled” is another weird track with weird time signatures, but I tell you even when it doesnt click immediately, its still super groovy and weird in the best kind of way. “Nostrum” has this weird empty sound kind of groove, like some notes were cut, and since this wasnt done in the computer, its the way they are playing, this goes into a double time groove, wow, followed by a trippy guitar solo and finishing up strong with crashing guitar, wtf did I just listen to.
“Our Rage Wont Die” has this calculating groove, both in drums and guitars, merging into basically a guitar cavalcade and ending into another groove, not the best but pretty fun. Finally “Into Decay” is a slow burn kinda end track, its cool heavy and full of dread, just not hitting for me, I would say heavy and cool, just not amazing, good, but maybe my least favorite.
Amazing album, it has a great sound and some of the tracks are my absolute favorites, it really shows another progression, another notch in Meshuggahs sound, sometimes complex and weird, sometimes a wall of sound, sometimes some groovy doom and gloom, you get a bit of everything and a bit of everything up to 110%, why am I not surprised, absolute must for Meshuggah fans and if you are into the best of metal a not miss as well!