Trigger The Bloodshed

Unrelenting. Meshuggah define the word. For just over a fifth of a century the Swedish tech-metal collective have, in different forms and guises, blown a path of destruction across the world and established themselves as one of the most important bands under the entire 'metal' umbrella. 2008's criminally underrated ObZen found them honing their craft further, condensing their black kinetic energy into some of their strongest material to date.

And it hasn't gone unnoticed. Tonight the soulless expanse of Nottingham Rock City is full of devout followers baying with excitement, unhampered by the early set-time and support act Trigger By Death, whose heavy but far from brutal two-dimensional death metal is almost at a contrast to Meshuggah despite some obvious musical similarities.

It is a credit to Meshuggah that within the close of the first track they have whipped the crowd into a frenzy, something not only due to the previous ailments but the fact that Meshuggah's output is for the most part extremely complex and head-banging resistant to even the most knowledgavle fan, built upon polyrhythms and riffs that seem to snap in&out of whichever time-signature drummer Tomas Haake throws out several times a second.

And it is Tomas whom is undoubtedly the centre of the band. With Meshuggah the percussion is not the backbone; it is the heart soul and brain. Every single monotone bark that escapes vocalist Jens' throat falls perfectly in line with a snare hit or double-bass blast. Even the duelling guitar work has a percussive nature to it, usually complementing instead of meandering into ego-driven solo's as is so often the case with similar bands.

And through it all the band are almost inconceivably tight, never miss a beat whilst somehow avoiding sounding robotic. With such a relentless performance (the band never pause for more than twenty seconds between songs) highlights are a moot point. Previous single 'Rational Gaze' and 'Bleed', taken from their latest full-length, garner the strongest crowd reactions but they could easily be substituted and subtracted without a loss in overall quality. Meshuggah have built a reputation on consistency as well as complexity, and deserve to be regarded as one of modern metal's most vital bands. Unrelenting yes, but in the very best possible way.