obZen is the sixth album by Swedish metal band Meshuggah. It was released in Europe on March 7, 2008, and in North America on March 11, 2008, through Nuclear Blast. Tomas Haake made his return as the studio drummer for the record after the Drumkit from Hell drum software was used on Catch Thirtythree. The release of the album was followed by their first world tour. A video was filmed for a shorter version of the song "Bleed". Read more on Last.fm.
Meshuggah is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas Haake and bassist Dick Lövgren. Since its formation, the band has released nine studio albums, six EPs and eight music videos. Their latest studio album, Immutable, was released in April 2022 via Atomic Fire Records. Read more on Last.fm
‘ObZen’ is one of the most mind-bogglingly excellent metal compositions to ever be written. With Meshuggah, you have to understand that rhythm replaces melody as the ‘spine’ of the song- and that’s intentional. Polyrhythms galore will make you wonder if there’s multiple drummers; rest assured, there’s not. Tomas Haake may be the most talented metal drummer of all-time, and ‘ObZen’ is a musician’s delight.
You can’t not like Meshuggah, If you like metal, you like Meshuggah. This is no exception. In fact, I may go as far as to say that robots played on this album. I can’t bring myself to believe that humans can write and play such flawless music…..I just can’t. They’re either robots or aliens.