Album Review: Meshuggah – Immutable (Atomic Fire)

Six years after the release of their last album, 2022 sees the return of the progressive death metal icons Meshuggah. They will release their 9th studio album, Immutable on the 1st of April 2022.

Go big or go home. That’s not just words for Meshuggah, it’s a mantra and after 6-long years with some serious worldwide trials and tribulations, the Swedish heavyweights are back to leave yet another indelible mark on the metal scene.

Clearly on a creative high, Immutable is about an hour’s worth of modern Meshuggah progressive death with stunning technical flourishes, groove and growl. 13 tracks of bold and bullish heaviness that showcases that Meshuggah can always be relied on for something that makes you think. There are experimental moments but not so much as to take away from the core of what Meshuggah do.

This is laid out with the brazen riffs and chunky drum beat that builds up at the start of Broken Cog. However, as it goes further along, the switch to subtler melody and whispered growls is not what many will expect. Meshuggah are playing it coy, ensuring the flair of intensity that ensues is all the more impactful. Everything great about this album can be summed up with this opener and it sets the bar very high, early on.

Their innate ability to make their music feel like it’s sawing straight through your brain continues into the hectic and savage slabs that are The Abysmal Eye and Light the Shortening Fuse. Before Phantoms extends the hand of groove that was there in the previous two, but is more present here, albeit covered by chuggy riffs.

Everything that Meshuggah do sounds and feels so damn heavy. Yet, the variety in tempos, tone shifts, array of riffs, vocal work, barely contained ferocity and more ensure that it never gets cloying. It’s why tracks like Ligature Marks, God He Sees in Mirrors and They Move Below sound so interesting and so fresh.

They Move Below really slows things down for a bit though with a soft and sweet-sounding melody. Taking up the first 2 minutes before Meshuggah bring the weight of their progressive heaviness down upon the skull. A track that passes the 9-minute mark, this Meshuggah at their most multifaceted but equally as mesmerising. From the first second to the last, they deliver a beast of a track that doesn’t even feature vocals.

There’s no time to take a breather though as the vocals are back with aplomb on Kaleidoscope as Meshuggah bring some serious stomp and snarl to proceedings. Followed by 2 minutes of brooding guitar noise on Black Cathedral, aggressive drum thumps on I Am That Thirst (the drumming overall has been nothing short of stellar throughout) and the brain-frying buzz and growl of The Faultless.

The end is sight though and what an end it is. Meshuggah going progressively harder on Armies of the Preposterous. Before wrapping up this undisputable classy release with a near-6-minute slice of melodic strangeness. It might not be the ending you expect or the one you hoped for but it will entertain none the less.

This many albums in and still capable of surprising, Meshuggah’s Immutable is an excellent release that shows this band’s top form doesn’t change regardless of how many years there are between releases.

Meshuggah – Immutable Full Track Listing:

1. Broken Cog
2. The Abysmal Eye
3. Light The Shortening Fuse
4. Phantoms
5. Ligature Marks
6. God He Sees In Mirrors
7. They Move Below
8. Kaleidoscope
9. Black Cathedral
10. I Am That Thirst
11. The Faultless
12. Armies Of the Preposterous
13. Past Tense

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