1987년 SWEDEN의 UMEA에서 결성된 MESHUGGAH는 롤링스톤지에 의해 전세계 에서 가장 중요한 하드/헤비 밴드로 칭송되고 있으며 팬들과 뮤지션 모두에 게서 존경과 칭찬을 얻고 있다. 거의 타이틀도 정해지지 않았던 첫 앨범 PSYKISK TESTBILD (PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST PICTURE) 부터 OZZFEST의 무대에 오르기 까지 길고도 험한 여정을 겪었고 자신들의 음악처럼 이들의 초기 역사는 수수께끼로 남아있지만 보컬/기타 JENS KIDMAN과 기타 FREDRIK THORDENDAL과 베이스 PETER NORDIN 이 천신 만고 끝에 완성한 1989년 VINYL 앨범 HOLY GRAIL은 1000장의 판매고를 올렸을 뿐 아니라 자신들의 2001년 발매 작RARE TRAX에도 삽입하였는데 여기서 예전의 좋지 않은 추한 곡들을 새로운 멤버들과 함께 오리지날 카피로써 담아내기도 했다.
드러머 TOMAS HAAKE 이후 짧게나마 가입하여 자신들의 첫 번째 풀렝스 앨범CONTRADICTION COLLAPSE를 완성하였으며 KIDMAN은 그의 보컬에 초점을 두기 위해 기타의 비율을 약간 낮추었고 HAAKE의 학창시절 오랜 친구 MARTEN HAGSTROM 이 뒤이어 가입하였다. 밴드는 뒤이어 CONTRADICTIONS COLLAPSE와 두 장의 EP(NONE과 이미 절판 된 바 있는 SELFCAGED)를 발매했지만 전세계의 주목을 끈 DESTROY, ERASE, IMPROVE 를 발매한 이후였고 이 악명 높은 앨범은 THE OSBORNES쇼에서 JACK OSBORNE 이 이웃을 공격한 에피소드에서 사용되기도 하였다.
두 달간의MACHINE HEAD와의 유럽투어는 MESHUGGAH를 살아있는 존재로서의 입지를 완성하게 한 동시에 CLAWFINGER, HYPOCRISY와의 투어는 이들의 우월함을 더욱 굳건하게 하였다. 아쉽게도 NORDIN은 CLAWFINGER 와의 투어직전 밴드를 떠났고 새로운 베이스 GUSTAF HIELM ( 전-CHARTA 77)가 독일 함부르크 공연에 함께 하기 전까지 베이스 없이 공연을 감행했으며 MESHUGGAH는 굴하지 않고 연이어EP TRUE HUNAN DESIGN을 발매하는 열성을 토해내었다.
그러나 밴드의 기념비적인 새 앨범 CHAOSPHERE는 경이적으로 놀라운 반응을 유도하 여 이들의 첫 번째 미국 공연이었던 MILWAUKEE METAL FEST를 성공적으로 마칠 수 있었으며 스래쉬 메탈의 거인 SLAYER와의 협연을 이루기도 하였다. 투어를 마친 이후 이들은 다시 한번 새로운 시도에 몰두하는 가 하면 자신들의 공연에 전력을 기울였고 2001년 초에 자신들을 헤드라이너로 한 미국 메사츄세츠에서 개최된NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FESTIVAL에 참여하기도 하였으며 이미 언급한 바 있는 RARE TRAX를 발매 하였다.
밴드는 2001년 내내 밀려드는 투어 제의를 거절하며 새 앨범에 몰두하였지만 TOOL의 개인적인 제의는 거절하기 어려웠기에 전혀 다른 이 두 밴드가 11일간에 투어를 가졌으며 이 새로운 기회를 통해 전혀 다른 팬 층에 MESHUGGAH의 다양한 공격성을 선보였다. 또다시 새 앨범완성을 위해 은둔생활로 돌아왔으나 또 한번의 제의는 도저히 거절 할 수 없는 기회였는데 거의 매년 중요한 투어에 큰 획을 그었으며 OZZFEST에 SYSTEM OF DOWN, POD, DOWN과 같은 무대에 서기도 하였다. 수개월동안 페스티발을 이끄는데 전력을 다한 후 DOUG OUT STUDIO로 DANIEL BERGSTRAD (STUCK MOJO, IN FLAMES)와 함께 드럼 트랙만 을 녹음하였다. 곧 이어AREA 51와 FEAR AND LOATHING STUDIO로 기타와 베이스 보컬 트랙을 완성하기위해 자리를 옮겼으며 열정적 인 6주간의 결과는 NOTING 앨범으로 고스란히 전해졌으며 CHAOSPHERE에 의한 수학적인 혼돈 (아마도 정확도?) 이후 밴드는 좀 더 직선적인 접근을 선보였고 더욱 헤비함을 앨범 속에 담아 내었다. THORDENDAL과HAGSTROM'의 독창적이고 특수 제작한 8현 기타는 평생 들어본 적 없는 불길한 사운드를 창조해내고 있으며 HAAKE의 트레이드 마크인 정확성과 KIDMAN의 그로울링은 무대가 커졌을 지라도 더욱 음악과 자신들의 오랜 팬들을 옴짝달싹 못하게 꽉 묶어내고 있다. .... ....
Lacerating pains of degeneration speed through your trembling mind Still, in machine-like strife you gain another mile The temporary elusive goal. To reach the solace to feed once more Upon the synthetic reaper of loss. No matter the outcome the cost
Cold and stinging needs tearing through the halls Of your defiled, flesh made temple with it's closing walls Still you claim the worshipers pose and you bow, you kneel
Once superior now a docile pet at chaos feet Pulling the leash as it trails the scent to where all the hurt recedes Your past a blurry patch in mind. Your future once: now thin dreams filed Towards the lights of need you strive, To drink into your vein the shine.
Beaten to the unforgiving ground. Lashed into submission, By the inner starving demon. By it's unrelenting hand Still you claim the worshipers pose and you bow. You kneel to the syringe
Answering only to the authorities of sedation. Their calls the only ones heeded A worn out soldier touched by their contagion. A battered drone at their feet You're the only one betrayed. An outcast set afire by your inner war Your burning self so far astray. A combustion fanned from within your core.
Squint your eyes to see clearly. Blur reality to make it real Let focus go from your deceiving eyes to know what's been concealed We've all been blinded - Subjects to visual misinformation A systematic denial of the crystalline
To see the fine grain, to read the hidden words The context of parallel truth - Devoid of fragmentation
Our light-induced image of truth - Filtered blank of its substance As our eyes won't adhere to intuitive lines Everything examined, Separated, one thing at a time The harder we stare the more complete the disintegration. -Dissolution
Trapped in a ceaseless fever of spite An unending fit of resentment and anger Caught in a moment of unforgiveness In the snapshot of a hate filled second
The speechless flickering of uncomprehending eyes Dilated in disbelief Your vacant gaze distorted Twisted in its accusing glare
Teeth glimmering in emotional rage Spit of hate suspended mid-air Bodies strained in fury Devoured by jaws of despair
One single image frame I wish to forget Now replayed in succession of millions The one second I will always regret My hell found in its reiteration
Held within the visualization The continuous rerun of my own violence A fraction of time perpetuated By my regretful soul animated
Please forgive the evil in me The darkness within Ferocious, inherent demon Adrenaline gland resident
Threatened subconscious snake Repressed into striking coil Surfacing that black second Ascending with the boil
Unbound to the pale and lifeless day By the multicolored, multiform A spinning anti dream unthought Exceeding the obsolete reality
Overheated inner shape generator Blowing every cerebral fuse Insanity filtered and systematized Feeding the tools of mind abuse
Mind signal transmission peaked Distorted, bent, unrestrained Neuroreceivers short circuit System parameters over gained
Nerve threads decoding the stream Of the reality inverting revolution The patterned untruth of non dream The closed eye visual delusion
A frantic cellular race down The switchbacks of mind Throttling the existence engine A propulsion beyond all limit lines
Convulsive thrusts of septic energy As infected cells collide Unleashing the video bacterial disease The sinew conducted pseudo vision
Mind signal transmission peaked Distorted, bent, unrestrained Neuroreceivers short circuit System parameters over gained
Nerve threads decoding the stream Of the reality-inverting revolution The patterned untruth of non dream The closed eye visual delusion
Self unfolds like a disintegrating dream All revealed but the sinister cause My lying eyes come apart at the seams Still how could I ever regret the loss
The self transformed into wave lengths Reverberating this unyielding dream Lost in this greedy illusion I'm forever devoured by the closed Eye visual delusion
A twirling visual overload Explosions of terror and beauty Colors of fear and pain within Clash into unanything
A spectra organic frenzy setting fire To the neuro highways of mind Revolving me away from time A soul now rendered unassigned
Winds that shine a bright, blinding dark Kerosene flames so cold they crack Suns that blow becalmed twisters Ferocity sleeping, nothingness stacked
Intestines worn to shield the inward limbs Screams unheard, deafening thoughts Levitating ground, the solid water burns Liquid stone, the immobile turns
Corrosion soothing the hurt within Surroundings reaching to touch your skin Progress in stalemate, death is alive Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
Pains sending shivers of well being down your spine Sounds of healing crack your bones Lamentation carving into smiling faces Surrounded by everyone, still you're all alone
Wormholes set as halos over sinners' skulls Leaves chasing the fallen air away A lifetime of needle-eyes too wide to escape Where honesty lies and angels betray
Incisions mending the wounds within Surroundings breach the surface of your skin Progress in static, life has died Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
Reincarnation trapped in a life span Corpses bolted to the ground arise Omni lights flooding your world with their darkness As your reflection turns its back to your eyes
You've entered your self-created anti-paradise Your universe processed and tapped in jars Never ending insanity Down in the hell of mind, where glints collide
Stroboscopic contortion, assault Light bulb language translated into fits Codes of tendon flickers I can't grasp Focus lost as I writhe and twitch
Random beats of blinding shock waves Erratic suns that twist my eyes Flashes pounding at my thoughts As the intrinsic pains multiply
Muscle and tissue twined with every violent lash Battered by an unrelenting shine Immobilized by the increasing pains The procreating agonies of system breakdown
Light wave frequency, body oscillation Undeciphered motions pass through my flesh Bodily reverberation induced A corporeal system lost in its waves
Bleached into their existence By tremulous epileptic strokes Blasts of irregular pulsar radiation Triggering the process of mind and body control
Lost to their control A sentence, in flashes told Enticed by their calls Insane, divine
Torn, undone, dissolved By incandescent gods condemned Burned their mark on my soul To my inverted shadow confined
Twisted, spun vertebras And spinal column unaligned Joints shattered and torn apart Spasm rendered distortion
Organic spiral stretched And torn into a new creation A world less thing, a thing less world Light born malformation
Drowned in this screaming silence Embraced by shadows, they tear me The wormholes free my eyes
The blood boils, it knows My thoughts burn as minds liquefy, vaporize Reality scorched by this fixed state
All beginnings slain by ends I seep down into the black to breathe Drifting to merge with the past My tongue licks the residue of the future
Bitter taste, the wombs of claws call me Filth rips them open, the stillborn start to move Lidless eyes twitching beneath a sheet of rot They reach out, they want to kiss, it matters not