I've listened to the following albums lately:
Meshuggah's Nothing.
This album is absolutely amazing. It's a somewhat Nu-Metal-ish sound with repetitive and heavy riffs, ****ing excellent drumming and some beasty vocals from Jens Kidman. Currently my favourite Meshuggah album.
Meshuggah's Catch Thirtythree.
I'll be honest, this album is easy to hate. It's essentially one song broken up into thirteen songs, mostly ranging from one to two minutes, the longest being thirteen minutes. A lot of the songs could have actually been pressed into a single track instead of being split, because they are essentially the same riff playing over and over again.
The drumming wasn't recorded live, and was all programmed by Tomas Haake (the band's drummer). This causes the album to sound very electronic and, at times, very painful. The first time I listened to it, it felt like my ears were about to bleed by the time the third track came around. The album is very experimental, the band even tampers with alienesque vocals and sounds.
So why is this album my second favourite of Meshuggah's? Simple, it's different. It's ballsy, pretentious, annoying, but very well worth many listens. Despite the repetition involved with a lot of the tracks, it is a very unique album. Highly recommend it!
Meshuggah's Nothing Re-Release.
I was honestly expecting this version Nothing to be superior to the original. Unfortunately, it falls short by a little bit. It's really only because the band's guitarists had to go back and change more than their respective contributions to the existing album. Unlike the original, this version is recorded with 8-string guitars, giving a much heavier and ambient sound. I admit, the guitar work sounds much better a lot of the time on the re-release.
Unfortunately, the guitarists also made changes to the drumming and vocals. The drumming was retuned rather than rerecorded, therefore giving it that same electronic sound and feel from Catch Thirtythree. That sound does work in favour for certain tracks though, especially "Spasm". My main gripe with this album stems from the vocals. The guitarists altered Kidman's vocals to that which resembles more screeching than shouting. They even made the vocals echo at times and that's just not right...
It's still an excellent remix of an excellent album, though.
The Pax Cecilia's Blessed are the Bonds.
I really don't know what particular genre to categorise this album under. Thanks to Cam (Fallsy) for sharing this album over Facebook. A very beautiful piece of work from a very talented band that deserves recognition!
That is all for albums. I did watch A Serious Man recently. It's another nagging reminder that I need to see more of the Coen Brothers' work.
Oh, and Michael Stuhlbarg is a cutie. :3
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