Catch 33 [Limited Edition]

Catch 33 [Limited Edition]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
It is Impossible to Talk About Experimental Or Avant-garde Metal Without Mentioning this Truly Groundbreaking Swedish Act. Mixing Ultra-complicated Rhythmic Patterns with Massive Riffs and Aggressive Growls, Combining Death Metal, Grindcore, Mathcore, Thrash and Progressive Metal to Create their Unique Style. Manic Low-tuned Riffs Repeated in Seemingly Endless Loops, Desperate Aggressive Growls and Drum Patterns from Another Dimension. Nobody Could Ever Compare Meshuggah's Music to a Walk in the Park - a Slaughter in the Park is More of a Fitting Comparison! No Wonder all of the Current Generation of Experimental Metal Bands (Dillinger Escape Plan Etc.) Sight them as an Influence, Even the Mighty Tool have Indicated that their Latest Material is Heavily Influenced by their Groundbreaking Style. Limited Edition Picture Disc.

Catch 33,Meshuggah,Back on Black,Heavy Metal

Average customer rating:

Challenging, unique and extraordinary music!

The Soundtrack To Your Psychosis

Cerebral, polyrhythmic metal from another dimension

Where to next?

Transcendental music

Catch 33
Meshuggah
Manufacturer: Avalon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0007WZXVW
Release Date: 2005-05-02

Album Description

Japanese pressing scheduled to include bonus material. 'One of the ten most important hard and heavy bands', that's how the prestigious Rolling Stone Magazine describes Swedish sonic extremists MESHUGGAH. It is impossible to talk about experimental or avant-garde metal without mentioning this truly groundbreaking act: MESHUGGAH mix ultra-complicated rhythmic patterns with massive riffs and aggressive growls, combining Death Metal, Grindcore, Mathcore, Thrash and Progressive Metal to create their unique style. Trying to categorize MESHUGGAH? Think again Manic low-tuned riffs repeated in seemingly endless loops, desperate and aggressive growls and screams, and drum fills and patterns from another dimension - these are some of the traits of character of Catch Thirty-Three, MESHUGGAH'S latest attack on the central nervous system. Avalon. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Challenging, unique and extraordinary music!.......2006-09-19

This is one difficult album to review. Meshuggah simply don't know how to play by the rules. After last years single track "I" EP, I kind of figured these guys would release something slightly more mainstream. Perhaps they might have even used the standard album structure of around 10 tracks of varying speed, yet utilizing a common theme throughout. But no! These insane musicians have just upped the ante and created an even longer, more complex, boundary smashing single track.

To call Meshuggah musically challenging would be an understatement. There's not a simple riff or a standard drum beat to be heard, with everything sounding slightly off and totally screwed up. But it's still so cohesive and creative, never becoming anything but fascinating, which is an amazing achievement. This is Meshuggah's most ambitious material in an already grand and elaborate career. You just have to make sure that you give it the necessary attention it deserves before it all makes sense.

The album is split up into 13 tracks, but it's written as one. The track separations are really just transitions, most of which will go by unnoticed. Things start off with a few tracks of build-up repetition, ever so slightly twisting and turning in different directions. Shutting down temporarily for the spacey Mind's Mirrors, before kicking into the album climax of "In Death - Is Life" and "In Death - Is Death" Then "Catch Thirty-Three" crushes down with a massive payload during the last 4 tracks, with album closer "Sum" bringing down the curtain in the most satisfactory way. You'll know you've heard something special once it's all over.

Most of the tracks, if heard separately, will not give you any indication of the albums worth, so I highly recommend you only listen to this monster in its entirety. If I'm going to be negative at all about this album, then I guess I should mark down the pretty awful solo in the "Entrapment" section. It may suit the totally discordant riff, but it's really pretty average. I've also never been a huge fan of Meshuggah's vocalist as he really doesn't display any emotional range, but maybe I'm just being fussy due to the excellent musicianship on show within the band. I would also have said that the use of a drum machine when you have one of the best drummers around is a negative, if I had of been able to tell that it was a drum machine. It really just sounds like a real drummer to me so I can't complain about that.

Overall, if you like your metal simple and to the point, stay away form "Catch Thirty-Three". But if you enjoy challenging, more demanding metal that's both unique and extraordinary, pick this baby up without a moments hesitation.

The Soundtrack To Your Psychosis.......2006-06-16

The face of metal has changed since the days of Ozzy Osbourne or Iron Maiden, and Meshuggah is the messiah for that change. Choosing to favor grinding intelligence over over-paced intensity, they represent "the thinking man's metal". Catch 33 is easily the best (in this writer's opinion) album out of Meshuggah, followed very closely by I. The band chose to go a different direction with many things, and change their structure but staying true to their sound and feel. My favorite part of the album is what I call "the trifecta", In Death Is Life, In Death Is Death and Shed, back to back. The structure of these 3 successive tracks speaks volumes about the album in it's entirety and the edgy 'serenity' or explosive brain-fry that it can bring to the table. This album is a must by. NO QUESTION.

Cerebral, polyrhythmic metal from another dimension.......2006-03-31

Catch 33 is probably the most controversial release thus far from these Swedish mathematicians. I've heard people say this is Meshuggah's most conceptually advanced release yet, I've heard others who prefer whatever past-release is their favorite, and every opinion in-between. I picked up this CD up when it came out, and it still hasn't completely "clicked." Instead of a conventional album, this a one long, 45 minute composition populated with the all the angular time signatures and sinister arpeggios that made me think "what the hell am I listening to?" when I first heard Destroy Erase Improve. Not exactly easy listening. The spidering eight-stringed riffs are ridiculously downtuned and slow, reminiscent of "Nothing"-- often utilizing shambling, mocking breaks, casting a dark and engrossing atmosphere that lurches way beyond mere math metal confinements.

Unfortunately, Thordendal's crazy jazz solos are absent, but the pulsing serpentine riffs just wouldn't have the same momentum over the course of Catch 33's full 45 minutes otherwise. Contributing to the dehumanized, frightening aural soundscape are Kidman's vocals, which seem to grow more atonal and harsh in execution with each passing Meshuggah release. It's been a while since these guys played rather average Metallica-derived thrash metal, and their progression can only be described as inhuman. I could drone on longer, but this is about how you should listen to Catch 33, not about my mastery of word-salad. In conclusion, this recording is not unlike being trapped in some sprawling maze and being chased by demons. Get it.
- Thus says the Pellington

Where to next?.......2005-09-05

Meshuggah are such a clever band that you often hear fans saying they liked their previous album (whatever it happens to be at the time) better than the new one -- they invariably do something new and challenging that takes a while to get your head around. So at the moment, I still think 'Nothing' is their best album, but I'm prepared to be proved wrong once 'Catch 33' is more firmly embedded in my skull.
Listening to this band is a fantastic journey, and I'd advise new listeners to start with 'Destroy Erase Improve' (their first 'mature' album) and work their way forwards. That way you can hear how the sound has evolved, keeping everything that was essential -- unorthodox time signatures, deep grunting cyclic riffs, jazz inflected lead playing, wrong-footing polyrhythmic drumming -- and ditching EVERYTHING that wasn't (gratuitous solos and blastbeats, for example). The spaces that gaped open on 'Nothing' are wider than ever here, and every riff and break has been pared down to its absolute minimum. It's like watching Mondrian progress from his early pastelly daubs to the ruthless geometric abstraction of his mature painting.

Most importantly, 'Catch 33' is more minimal but no less complex than what went before. If this is the game Meshuggah are playing, you do wonder how far they can take it. But it's always worth sticking around: so far they've surprised and delighted with every release. When there's so much formulaic metal around -- even in the supposedly underground scene -- it does you good to hear a group of real musicians pushing both their own ability and the boundaries of their art.

Oh, and they kick ass too.

Transcendental music.......2005-05-31

From the very start of its creation 'catch 33' was labelled a complete experiment by the band, a one piece epic which had been on their agenda for a while but due to its ever changing nature had been put on the back burner. Even before people had sampled its content the news that the drums were programmed left fans disgruntled as tomas hakke is widely revered as the most original drummer on the planet. Rest assured though the drums sound as organic as a studio performance and although tomas could easily have performed the album, up until the very end they were still changing its composition therefore it would have taken months just to lay down the drums. For meshuggah it is all about the music not about egos, tomas has nothing to prove and its good to try out new things.
The first thing that struck me after a few listens all the way through is just how much meshuggah have mastered the art of composition. Not one note or passage of music is wasted and all adds up to create an album so tense that you literally have no idea of what is coming next, anything appears possible. 'Catch 33' was designed to be listened to as one piece of music where each track compliments another and flows effortlessly. The album starts off with a huge circular groove which grabs you straight away before jen's distinctive powerful voice adds a menacing and unsettling atmosphere. Throughout this piece meshuggah use repetition in order to create an almost hypnotic quality to it where minutes pass by without notice then suddenly a huge lurching riff will be implanted in the listener's head. Just as you think you have the pace and nature of 'catch 33' figured out 'In death is life' kicks in sounding like the riff from 'rational gaze' on steroids. The pace suddenly changes from tracks 8 through to 13 and showcases some of meshuggah's best riffs to date, i defy anyone not be blown away by the riff at 2:09 in 'dehumanization' which is the sound to a nuclear explosion.
Like with every meshuggah release 'catch 33' isnt afraid to take risks with even a vocoded section in the track 'minds mirrors' bringing yet another suprise. I couldnt review this album without also pointing out how intelligent and thought provoking the lyrics are dealing with the paradoxes of life and death. It adds another dimension to meshuggah's already god like power. They prove yet again that a band can be hyper intelligent aswell as ultra heavy. I've had this album for two weeks and i'm almost addicted to how good it is, it doesnt sound like anything out there and totally original. Therefore i'd recommend this album to anyone who wants to hear something totally compelling and hypnotic in its composition.

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