Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Once upon a time, Meshuggah's None EP used to be the ultimate mindf*** (can we say that on here? Or will Robert's lightning come down upon us? I decided not to tempt that particular fate, but when we get some real traffic going, that might be a concern) music for me, the thing I would put on, at loud volumes when I needed to scramble up my brain. It was a polyrhythmic spree, guitars blasting at odd angles to one another, a bass meandering in noisy protrusions, all somehow ending up in the same place, although halfway through any given song, you'd be hard pressed to figure out the ending. But that was then, then being circa 1998. In the intervening decade, Meshuggah has grown, not passe, since I usually put that CD on whenever my eye happens to fall upon its place in my CD racks (assuming that I managed to put it back in the case the last time I did listen to it, a sucker's bet at best), but....dare I say it? Tame? Normal?

It feels weird saying that, after all, I listen to that disc and hear the same clashing rhythms, the same difficult to digest _layer_s all running together and somehow resolving themselves in violence, but....perhaps it's due to all the music I've heard since then, that are, in their own way, harsher, more dissonant, even more difficult to digest, but Meshuggah doesn't scare me anymore. Maybe it's because I *get* it now, understand what I'm listening to, know where the music is coming from. Or maybe it's just because I'm used to it, not just that as a _meta_l fan, I've branched out in more and more extreme directions, looking for a new band to listen to when I'm in search of a reboot.

Haven't exactly found that new band yet. Part of Meshuggah's charm, if you will, is that I kept listening to that EP...because, bottom line, I LIKED what I was hearing, even if I couldn't handle it, exactly. These days, stuff I listen to that messes with my head, I just listen to something else, because I have over a thousand items to choose from. Back in those days, maybe 50-70? But I hear some band like Evergreen Terrace, and think, man, these vocals suck, and unless I'm on the hook to review it for this site, I may never go back and give it a second shot.

That's scary, in a way, the fact that there are bands that could be slipping through the cracks because I don't have the time or patience to listen to their efforts enough times for them to grow on me. But that's a ramble for another day.