The time-signature-mental-mind-fuckers are back with their magnum opus, ‘Catch 33.’ Though the album is 13 tracks, this is technically one entire song. Many believe this is a continuation to their ‘I’ EP released a year ago. That is not true. Similar style, yes, but it is definitely different. This is like nothing they’ve released before. I love ‘Contradictions Collapse’ and ‘Nothing.’ Hell, ‘Chaosphere’ is the one that got me into them in the first place. So, I have heard it all from them. They have turned into something different than they ever have been before.

This album has quite a bit more instrumental passages than past albums. Even more so than the ‘I’ EP. Not a bad thing; it really sets the mood of the album. This album is also more repetitive than past releases, yet the technical beats are still there. Again, not a bad thing. The album does lose steam in the 13 minute section known as “In Death – Is Death.” And that’s an understatement. The album seems to just stop in the last half of that part. But “Shed” picks the album up from the mud for the last 11 minutes of it (last 4 minutes of the final part is silence, though). Meshuggah’s trademark screams are ever present on this album. As the album plays, it feels like some of the parts make a bigger song, like the last four parts. It’s hard to put into words what the album is like. I guess the best way to put it is take ‘Nothing’ and ‘Destroy Erase Improve’ and combine the styles. Either way, this is still Meshuggah and it’s obvious. It’s nothing overly new, but it’s not played out either. They have progressed even farther into the oddness of time signatures and beats, and I commend them for it. The biggest problem is that the writing is weak for Meshuggah. I expected something much better. Especially that practical dead stop in the middle of that one part, it kills the momentum, and that obviously hurts the flow.

This is definitely not an album many will be able to ‘handle’ in one listen. It is easily the hardest album from Meshuggah to listen to. People that liked ‘I,’ although this is different, will most likely like ‘Catch 33.’ Others will be best advised to steer clear of it.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]

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