Single Review: Mesuggah - 'The Abysmal Eye'

 

Iconic Swedish progressive death metal band, Meshuggah, have released a new song called ‘The Abysmal Eye’, which is from their upcoming new album, Immutable, due out on April 1st, 2022. This song features Meshuggah’s classic progressive death metal sound, using different time signatures to create truly mind-boggling, but awesomely heavy music. 


‘The Abysmal Eye’ opens with raging, frantic double bass, with the guitars chugging along. The song is incredibly double bass-heavy, the drums being viciously played by Tomas Haake. Famous for his performance on ‘Bleed’ from Meshuggah's 2008 album, Obzen, Haake is often hailed as one of the best metal drummers to ever live. The drumbeat changes briefly about halfway through the song, changing its feel. Meshuggah often use permutations and odd time signatures in their music, which is one of the things that gives them their progressive element. There is a chaotic sounding guitar solo, using tapping, a technique made popular by Eddie Van Halen. The relentless double bass goes halftime in the outro, before the abrupt finish. 


Like all of Meshuggah’s work, ‘The Abysmal Eye’ brilliantly showcases what incredibly talented musicians they all are. A large part of Meshuggah's success is due to their recognisable, signature sound. I would argue that it is imperative for any band that wants to be successful to have a signature sound. ‘The Abysmal Eye’ is a heavy metal whirlwind, and will no doubt have Meshuggah fans staying up till midnight on April 1st, waiting for Immutable to be released. 

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