"This guy's inspiring me to play drums just so I can quit in disgust when I try to play what he's doing now." Every drummer that's ever tried to learn this song felt that
Brian Blacketer I did too. First time I ever saw them live. I think it’s their first tour in the US too. I had been listening to them a couple of years at that point. Now I think I’ve seen them live more than any other band lol
Ken: BLEED is supposed to be from the perspective of someone having an aneurysm. It's absolutely relentless and this level of syncopation is pretty much the standard for them. See also "Dancers to a Discordant System" and "Straws Pulled at Random"
now that you’ve bared witness to the chaos, you should listen to Bill Burr tell his first time hearing this. it’s hilarious. he was completely mind bent.
It’s awesome how people think songs like Bleed have odd time signatures in the drums. But -from start to finish- this song is in 4/4. There is not a moment where it’s not. The crazy patterns are circular but they all come back to bar divisions of 4. You could set up a metronome and where the repetitions begin and end become more clear. That’s the thing I love the most about Meshuggah. Nobody makes 4/4 as complex as them. Nobody!
“In polymeters typically used by Meshuggah, the guitars might play in odd meters such as 5/16 or 17/16, while drums play in 4/4.[24] One particular example of Haake's use of polymeter is 4/4 against 23/16 bimeter, in which he keeps the hi-hat and ride cymbal in 4/4 time but uses the snare and double bass drums in 23/16 time.[9][34] On "Rational Gaze" (from Nothing), Haake plays simple 4/4 time, hitting the snare on each third beat, for 16 bars. At the same time, the guitars and bass are playing same quarter notes, albeit in a different time signature; eventually both sides meet up again at the 64th beat.[28] Hagström notes about the polymeters, "We've never really been into the odd time signatures we get accused of using. Everything we do is based around a 4/4 core. It's just that we arrange parts differently around that center to make it seem like something else is going on." (source - Wikipedia)
To me this one sounds mostly 4/4 although the drummer makes a lot of weird accented patterns to hide it very well ) I'm coming from the world of modular electro music, where this trick is a simple cool way to enrich your rhythm: to shift some patterns or to use an euclidean generator for example, but this guy doing it all on stage in realtime - applause!
Actually there are sections in here (the faster snare parts) that are players a 3:2 polyrhythm Hihat to snare, with the regular kick pattern underneath. Aside from that though, most of the hihat is in 4/4 with syncopated snares tied to the guitar riffs.
They use a very Carnatic approach to rhythm and meter, with the cymbal acting as a tala of sort to "keep the pulse" while the other instruments do long cyclic hypermeters
If this impressed you react to Meshuggah ‘Clockworks’ (drum-cam). The drumming is several levels up from this and not just about the 🦶. The vocalist also expresses much more range as it’s more of a ballad....wait, what?
Yes, it's quite common for metal drummers to go with socks or bare feet. It offers you more control, and when you have foot control for multiple drums or cymbals, that extra touch does help.
Congratulations my man, you have survived the onslaught that is Meshuggah. And you did so with a level of appreciation so that's impressive. On the point of drumming without shoes - it gives you more of a feel for the pedal without a big sole dampening it. In a song with as much bass pedal control as this, it's important you can feel where the bass pedal is as you use it. I always used to take my shoes off for gigs and recordings. Never barefoot though because my feet would stick to the pedals....
Man, my respect that you are willing and able to dive this deep into the rabbit hole. Many people who react to metal video’s choose Nightwish or Unleash the Archers. While both bands are really great, this is another level. It’s great to see someone with your musical background pick up upon what’s so special about this band. I really enjoyed this. Thanks. 👍🏻
This song taught me the word "vellicate" which is a really cool word, btw. These aren't the 4th grade level lyrics you great in pop music. It wasn't the last time I went to the dictionary from a Meshuggah song.
@@Shake69ification Spasm actually is sung (spoken?) by Tomas, and that one has all kinds of crazy words. The first song I ever heard by Meshuggah in the late 90's was Future Breed Machine, and that's what made me a fan.
Another note in favor of Ne Obliviscaris - And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope, it was included in the curriculum at the Sydney Conservatory. From Metalstorm.net: 'Professor Hindson commented: "I will be presenting 'And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope' to the composition students at the Conservatorium next semester as an exemplar in structure, mixing timbres, meters, modes, how to approach virtuosity, sound and noise, extended performance and techniques. The students will need to study 2 technical aspects of what Ne Obliviscaris have done in their music, and then use these techniques in their own classical music compositions"'
Now imagine playing a whole album with give or take 50 minutes of play time written like this. These guys are some of the best to ever do it in the genre.
I love this reaction. Your enjoyment is making me happy =) I respect you taking the time to watch this. Death metal is my wheelhouse so seeing a fresh listener is invigorating!
To appreciate this drummer you really have to look at what time each hand is playing as well as the feet. The amazing part is the wrap around in the guitar still matching time with the kicks. Incredible drummer
Meshuggah!! So happy you're reviewing one of my fave bands. Bleed is so EPIC, but there are other masterpieces as well. Demiurge, Clockworks, Sinews, Rational Gaze, Corridor I can go on and on. Extreme Progressive Metal at its finest 🤘🤘
Best sounding live band I've ever heard. They do sound equal, or even better than on their albums. Also, the guitarsolo is from the album, though slightly different. I guess he's playing it, but adding in new "top of his head, into the moment" rinkles. Great reaction.
@@drumkidstu well, I'm not gonna argue. I don't know enough about music notes to have an arguement. I do know Meshuggah's music pretty good to hear that the solo is different, but in general, it's about the same lines as he does on the album version.
This is one of those songs I feel that musicians make to impress other musicians. On the surface it doesn't seem that complex to the average listener... but in reality there is so much going on that it takes multiple listening to take it all in.
If you’re looking for something mind blowing, try listening to Opeth. They’re a Swedish melodic progressive metal band. Their earlier stuff is pure death metal with loads of growling, but their newer stuff is all clean melodic vocals. For something that showcases both listen to Bleak, from the album Blackwater Park. Absolutely astonishing. Love the channel by the way, keep up the good work! 👍
Love the metal Monday’s!! You should definitely check out the band Lamb of God. I’d recommend the song “now you’ve got something to die for” and live of course. On of the best heavy metal vocalists ever. Lots of energy and passion, drives the crowd berserk!
As a vocal coach, you might be interested in Nevermore. They broke up some time ago, and, unfortunately, their former vocalist, Warrel Dane, passed away about two years ago. He's still one of my favorites and mixes many different styles of singing. "Dreaming Neon Black", "The Learning", "Sentient 6" or "Born" are all good choices for hearing some of his vocal ability.
I applaud you. Meshuggah can be a tough listen for first-timers. They were one of the first bands to pioneer the whole "synching every pick-stroke to a kick-drum" thing.
I notice alot of non drummers watching drummers and being amazed at how the drummer being watched can have so much endurance. What most non drummers don't realise is that if someone's a good drummer, they have good technique, and it actually takes very little effort to play like that. After the initial expenditure of energy to get fills and rolls going, we utilise the rebound of the sticks and spring tension of the pedals to keep things going. Once technique is good it's not thtt difficult to play stuff like this with little sweat.
Agree. But getting there... getting to the point where you can easily know/count/intuit your time signatures, remaining in the pocket of not only the song, but what you are talking about... i refer to as the pocket of the drums themselves..(the bounce/rebound) and keeping them aligned with near perfectly even velocity except certain accents, also coaxing/encouraging the tones out of the drum through placement of hit, how hard/soft, how long/short of a time the stick connects etc... and that level of speed obviously... getting to the point where drummers are basically intuiting the songs and it’s “easy” on them deserves the praise they are getting anyway even if its a little misplaced. Im sure you agree, I just wanted to add that here so no-one reads this thinking that he doesn’t deserve the attention he gets or something silly. Anyway, its good to see this actually written out. I think about exactly what you said almost every drum video.
Great video! On the socks, from what has been said by Thomas and his spouse in interviews and posts, the socks he uses are a specific brand that he got very used to... and then they went out of business. They proceeded to buy up a HUGE supply of these to try and have enough to get through the rest of his career without having to change.
Meshuggah is unique in how the progression of each instrument (vocals included) through their songs is a caustic serpentine journey with each instrument falling in and out of the beat. Just when you think they have come together the bass or the the guitar or the vocals falls it into its own rhythm while the drums relentless drives it’s own changes and syncopated beats. One of the most brutal sounds in metal 🤘
"when ever you think you have a notion of what the beat pattern is, they go and change it!" This is basically Meshuggah's MO. Every time you think you got it, they take it away. Keeps you constantly on your toes.
Great reaction! Meshuggah is a huge rabbit hole. You'd be into Haken, they have similar rhythmic qualities but they incorporate a lot of melody and harmony. I recommend Carousel from their new album Virus.
8:55 The guitar solo is the same as in the album. All in all its pretty much identical as its on the album. Whats also amazing is the lights. When you pay attention to it, you can see the lights are matched with the polyrhytms the band is playing(he has memorized all the songs in order to do this). They count the guy who does the lights the 6th member of the band.
Meshuga are the kings of relentless odd count beats carried on for entire songs. Should check out Between the Buried and Me for a good collection of transitions and changes to tempo and counts!
The thing about metal is that it's about exploring the boundaries of human emotion, of musicality, of composition, of ability. It's about pushing, pushing and pushing into the unknown.
Haha! Great reaction! “I wan take up drums so that I can quit in disgust when I realize I’m never going to be that good” ... that mirrors my own thoughts on taking up singing when I hear great singers... or any other musical instrument for that matter.
@Ken there is definitely a guitar solo at that specific part of the song on the album, but not that exact one. I've seen them live several times and he usually just does some trippy riffing
Something even crazier is that it isn't triggered lighting. They have a lighting tech that 'plays' along to the music and taps it out on the lighting desk. Look up meshuggahs lighting tech
Half true, they no longer do it manually, the last few tours have all been pre-programmed lights. But yeah for quite a while they had, I believe, Tomas' cousin doing it!
Great reaction Ken! Meshuggah are one of the inspirations of a sub-genre of progressive metal sometimes labled as 'Djent'. If you want something that is percussively as interesting as this but with a more melodic vocal style try reacting to a band called Tesseract.
I think what confuses a lot of people on the timing is Haake is playing straight 4/4 timing up top and a rolling 23/16 on the kicks for the majority of the song.
What? It's basically a variation of a 3 against 4 polyrhythm. The emphasis of the kicks (in the beginning) is on every dotted eight note (same length as 3 16th notes), but instead of just dotted eight notes he plays hertas. So for every 3 quarter notes there are 4 hertas on the basedrum but (and there you were right) the song is in 4/4. I don't understand how you came up with 23/16.
If you bothered to look it up, it's A poly rhythm of 4/4 over 23/16 bimeter, Haake himself breaks it down and discusses it in a doco and in different interviews. I'm no expert in these matters I just enjoy music but i'll take his explanation of his own music over yours I think.
Uh no, the majority of the song is a simple 3 over 4 polyrhythm. There are no 23/16 patterns in Bleed. The section at 4:18 (in this vid) is a 27/16 double bass pattern. Second verse is a 5 over 4 rhythm, the solo is an insane 87/16 pattern, and the breakdown part is a weird offset 48/16 pattern, but there are no 23/16 sections. Haake was probably referring to another song or doesn't remember the time signatures off the top of his head. You don't need to know the technicalities of your music to perform it; its all 'feel' and muscle memory. Just went through the entire song, identified each repeating pattern, counted them up and double and triple checked, and I'm 99% sure there are no 23/16 parts in there.
I think they played the song almost exact like on the album, including those freaky solos. I wonder if they enhanced the sound of the video you watched. Those guitar solos sounded almost too good.
Two things ken as you possibly head down the Shuggahole ;) 1. It’s pronounced Thomas “Hockey” 😁 to us Americans at least. Him and the rest of the band might pronounce it slightly different. 2. If you check out any Meshuggah, I HIGHLY suggest checking out their early stuff from the 90s, it is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUSLY ahead of its time, and Tomas has always been such a beast at the drums. Great reaction! Glad you finally got to the drum cam!!!
This is my second time here. Shamalamading dong was first, and now son of a beach towel. Ya got me. I subscribed, liked and rang that thingy. Keep it up!
Thanks you for the hockey metaphor! I play and what you said was initially true. The drummer is your goalie and if your drummer isn’t playing well then the team doesn’t play well or in the case the rest of the band. 100% agree
Beauuuuuuutiful reaction Ken love your reaction videos... love to see more. // looking through archives now. Time for a little Melody Cristea front room for the band LILIAC (pronounced (Lil -EEE-ack) - MARS (Original) (Live in Cumming, GA 2019)
Great reaction!! I can only recommend you have a look at "MESHUGGAH - Clockworks (DRUM PLAYTHROUGH w/ TOMAS HAAKE)" as well...somehow I doubt you will be disappointed ;) Like someone said: 'Meshuggah is like listening to an optical illusion"
"he's so calm and in the center and just relaxed"
Would you say he's obscenely zen?
I really don't reply to comments buut you got my attention mate, fuckin underrated. It took me a month though
@@Abominable_Intelligences It took me like a year to figure out what ObZen meant... It's a really smart title to a really smart album. Cheers dude! 🍻
Wait a sec. damn I just got that
NICE
muahahaha
"This guy's inspiring me to play drums just so I can quit in disgust when I try to play what he's doing now."
Every drummer that's ever tried to learn this song felt that
So accurate!!
"son of a beach towel"... I'm so stealing this lol
It's almost a Hitchhiker's reference...
”You’r a towel!” - Toweli South park
Yep. Totally using this from now on lol
Lol
Y same
I saw them open for Tool in 2001. Seeing Tomas Haake and Danny Carey perform on the same night was amazing!
Brian Blacketer I did too. First time I ever saw them live. I think it’s their first tour in the US too. I had been listening to them a couple of years at that point. Now I think I’ve seen them live more than any other band lol
Same here. It was the Lateralus tour and I had never heard or even heard of Meshuggah before that. Amazing.
That was my first time seeing both live as well. I knew of Meshuggah, but hadn’t really listened to them. I was impressed with their set.
I saw the same tour. Impressive to say the least.
You lucky bastard you!🤟🤟
Non-drummers: This sounds really difficult. Drummers: This is really really really beyond difficult. Kudos for this one LOL.
“And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope” - Ne Obliviscaris live Denver 2016
Love the willingness to appreciate all music
The live really isn't that good. Better to do Dan Presland'a drum play through
I fully endorse this suggestion. Great song and great footage.
@@ReinhardtBII thanks for saying this. Annoys me that this is the version people react too. The mixing on the guitars is so lackluster
@@Addede I completely agree about the mixing. Not every great concert yields great footage, unfortunately
@@ReinhardtBII I agree as well. All of them play very tight but their engineering during live show arent very good
Ken: BLEED is supposed to be from the perspective of someone having an aneurysm. It's absolutely relentless and this level of syncopation is pretty much the standard for them. See also "Dancers to a Discordant System" and "Straws Pulled at Random"
I heard it was a band member who had one. But that is what you hear.
@Jakob Tanchak
Yeah, "Dancers..." are just friggin' epic.
Relentless is the perfect description of this track. There's that one longer break in there, but otherwise, yes, relentless is the word.
straws pulled at random is an underrated song. one of my favorites
Straws Pulled At Random is one of my favorite Meshuggah songs ever. So is Dancers To A Discordant System.
"I wasn't ready!"
No one ever is.
Last year he opened the song with „Let‘s see if you recognise this one“
I remember hearing Meshuggah for the 1st time in 2002. I was watching Headbangers ball and Rational Gaze came on 🤯🤯. Still is.
Lets see how mindblowing the new album is gonna be
@@12xx12100 what? Have they announced a new is under way?
hakkenarsk they cancels a festival gig and in the announcement they said that they are working on an album
now that you’ve bared witness to the chaos, you should listen to Bill Burr tell his first time hearing this. it’s hilarious. he was completely mind bent.
True! That video is hilarious!
Brrrtta brrrrta and so on... yeah, it was hilarious!
don't forget the Bleed remix with Bill's sounds, it's amazing
Messhuggah is like getting chased through the mud, the density of that, mixed with getting chased by a crocodile coming at you at a constant speed.
I allways think that its the musik to the gates of hell, or the elevater msuic in hell.
F'n eh, well put!
It’s awesome how people think songs like Bleed have odd time signatures in the drums. But -from start to finish- this song is in 4/4. There is not a moment where it’s not. The crazy patterns are circular but they all come back to bar divisions of 4. You could set up a metronome and where the repetitions begin and end become more clear.
That’s the thing I love the most about Meshuggah. Nobody makes 4/4 as complex as them. Nobody!
“In polymeters typically used by Meshuggah, the guitars might play in odd meters such as 5/16 or 17/16, while drums play in 4/4.[24] One particular example of Haake's use of polymeter is 4/4 against 23/16 bimeter, in which he keeps the hi-hat and ride cymbal in 4/4 time but uses the snare and double bass drums in 23/16 time.[9][34] On "Rational Gaze" (from Nothing), Haake plays simple 4/4 time, hitting the snare on each third beat, for 16 bars. At the same time, the guitars and bass are playing same quarter notes, albeit in a different time signature; eventually both sides meet up again at the 64th beat.[28] Hagström notes about the polymeters, "We've never really been into the odd time signatures we get accused of using. Everything we do is based around a 4/4 core. It's just that we arrange parts differently around that center to make it seem like something else is going on."
(source - Wikipedia)
I never could fathom how someone can play 4 completely different patterns with all 4 limbs.
To me this one sounds mostly 4/4 although the drummer makes a lot of weird accented patterns to hide it very well ) I'm coming from the world of modular electro music, where this trick is a simple cool way to enrich your rhythm: to shift some patterns or to use an euclidean generator for example, but this guy doing it all on stage in realtime - applause!
The secret is that Hake only play 4/4 on the HiHat and Snare, and then he play with the guitar ex 7/8 osv with the kagge
Actually there are sections in here (the faster snare parts) that are players a 3:2 polyrhythm Hihat to snare, with the regular kick pattern underneath.
Aside from that though, most of the hihat is in 4/4 with syncopated snares tied to the guitar riffs.
They use a very Carnatic approach to rhythm and meter, with the cymbal acting as a tala of sort to "keep the pulse" while the other instruments do long cyclic hypermeters
If this impressed you react to Meshuggah ‘Clockworks’ (drum-cam). The drumming is several levels up from this and not just about the 🦶. The vocalist also expresses much more range as it’s more of a ballad....wait, what?
A shame the sound and video dont actually match in that video though :P always bothered me too much to appreciate it really
I'm not that big of a fan of Meshuggah. That being said, Clockworks is a masterpiece. I can listen to it any day.
Agreed Clockworks really, really impressed me when they released it.
Yes, it's quite common for metal drummers to go with socks or bare feet. It offers you more control, and when you have foot control for multiple drums or cymbals, that extra touch does help.
on the other hand, we have Hellhammer in massive boots
Then there is Gene Hoglan who wears ankle weights as well as boots. 🤯
Congratulations my man, you have survived the onslaught that is Meshuggah.
And you did so with a level of appreciation so that's impressive.
On the point of drumming without shoes - it gives you more of a feel for the pedal without a big sole dampening it. In a song with as much bass pedal control as this, it's important you can feel where the bass pedal is as you use it. I always used to take my shoes off for gigs and recordings. Never barefoot though because my feet would stick to the pedals....
I saw Tool and Meshuggah in 2002. It was absolutely incredible.
Mr. Lavigne, you are a sheer joy to watch reacting to metal songs. Keep up the great work!
fantastic reaction!
Man, my respect that you are willing and able to dive this deep into the rabbit hole. Many people who react to metal video’s choose Nightwish or Unleash the Archers. While both bands are really great, this is another level. It’s great to see someone with your musical background pick up upon what’s so special about this band. I really enjoyed this. Thanks. 👍🏻
Tomas writes like 90% of the song lyrics too, has been for years now.
This song taught me the word "vellicate" which is a really cool word, btw. These aren't the 4th grade level lyrics you great in pop music. It wasn't the last time I went to the dictionary from a Meshuggah song.
@@Shake69ification Spasm actually is sung (spoken?) by Tomas, and that one has all kinds of crazy words. The first song I ever heard by Meshuggah in the late 90's was Future Breed Machine, and that's what made me a fan.
This is by far the best reaction vid I've seen of Bleed. Son of a beach towel, I lol'ed.
Utterly over the moon that you reacted to Meshuggah
Tomas is truly a pioneer of poly-rhythmic technique. An absolute machine. Full intensity from start to finish.
This channel is like, "your brother in-law reacts to all your old metal albums". :D
It's nice huh? :D
Hell of a first foray into the extreme side of metal hahaha
Lol right? He dove in head first on the deep end
Another note in favor of Ne Obliviscaris - And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope, it was included in the curriculum at the Sydney Conservatory. From Metalstorm.net:
'Professor Hindson commented: "I will be presenting 'And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope' to the composition students at the Conservatorium next semester as an exemplar in structure, mixing timbres, meters, modes, how to approach virtuosity, sound and noise, extended performance and techniques. The students will need to study 2 technical aspects of what Ne Obliviscaris have done in their music, and then use these techniques in their own classical music compositions"'
Their current live guitarist Per Nilsen improvises based around the studio solos and adds his own flair to them.
Meshuggah, someone once said “It’s like 3 dudes playing in different times, all in time.”
What an amazing live band too, the sheer precision of everything. Incomprehensible yet Immaculate.
Now imagine playing a whole album with give or take 50 minutes of play time written like this. These guys are some of the best to ever do it in the genre.
And if you go see them live they do this for 2 hours straight. perfectly. It's absolutely insane
I love this reaction. Your enjoyment is making me happy =) I respect you taking the time to watch this. Death metal is my wheelhouse so seeing a fresh listener is invigorating!
You're brave Ken, not a lot of people can handle going into Meshuggah cold. They can be overwhelming...good thing you understand polyrhythms.
He’s definitely one of my favorite metal drummers of all time. In the top 5 for sure. Maybe even top 3.
The vocalist, Jens Kidman is 54 years old and still making those sounds like he was 25. Incredible talent and preservation of his voice.
He’s a fucking badass right!
To appreciate this drummer you really have to look at what time each hand is playing as well as the feet. The amazing part is the wrap around in the guitar still matching time with the kicks. Incredible drummer
Meshuggah!! So happy you're reviewing one of my fave bands. Bleed is so EPIC, but there are other masterpieces as well. Demiurge, Clockworks, Sinews, Rational Gaze, Corridor I can go on and on. Extreme Progressive Metal at its finest 🤘🤘
There's more so remarkable songs. For example outro in the end of the Straws pulled by random is one of a kind.
These are so fun to watch Ken, thank you.
Best sounding live band I've ever heard. They do sound equal, or even better than on their albums. Also, the guitarsolo is from the album, though slightly different. I guess he's playing it, but adding in new "top of his head, into the moment" rinkles.
Great reaction.
This solo is improvised as is the one on the record. Fredrik Thordendal strictly improvises guitar solos.
@@drumkidstu well, I'm not gonna argue. I don't know enough about music notes to have an arguement. I do know Meshuggah's music pretty good to hear that the solo is different, but in general, it's about the same lines as he does on the album version.
This makes me happy.
I think you would enjoy "IEUD" by IGORRR - crazy breaks and two great voices :-) or probably even more "CHEVAL" by IGORRR.
Peace!
yes please IGORRR, or basically anything of that Corpo Mente live session on YT
Igorrr!!!!!! both great suggestions!!
This is one of those songs I feel that musicians make to impress other musicians.
On the surface it doesn't seem that complex to the average listener... but in reality there is so much going on that it takes multiple listening to take it all in.
Dancers to a discordent system is an amazing song from Meshuggah, with truelly mesmerizing lyrics
If you’re looking for something mind blowing, try listening to Opeth. They’re a Swedish melodic progressive metal band. Their earlier stuff is pure death metal with loads of growling, but their newer stuff is all clean melodic vocals. For something that showcases both listen to Bleak, from the album Blackwater Park. Absolutely astonishing. Love the channel by the way, keep up the good work! 👍
Stephane Marley so much this. Micke Åkerfeldt is my fav vocalist in metal by far, his range is just mindblowing.
I highly recommend Periphery's "Satellites" for another metal monday. The singing is astonishing.
I love this channel. This is the third reaction I've watched from this guy. Every time I watch a video.. I like this channel a little more.
Love those catchfrases, fun to watch and good reactions. Keep up the good work. You'll be a metal-head in no-time!
Love the metal Monday’s!! You should definitely check out the band Lamb of God. I’d recommend the song “now you’ve got something to die for” and live of course. On of the best heavy metal vocalists ever. Lots of energy and passion, drives the crowd berserk!
As a vocal coach, you might be interested in Nevermore. They broke up some time ago, and, unfortunately, their former vocalist, Warrel Dane, passed away about two years ago. He's still one of my favorites and mixes many different styles of singing.
"Dreaming Neon Black", "The Learning", "Sentient 6" or "Born" are all good choices for hearing some of his vocal ability.
Huge respect to you bro for checking out a band that is so out of your wheelhouse. Great video.
Good reaction 🤘.. Clockwork
I applaud you. Meshuggah can be a tough listen for first-timers.
They were one of the first bands to pioneer the whole "synching every pick-stroke to a kick-drum" thing.
I notice alot of non drummers watching drummers and being amazed at how the drummer being watched can have so much endurance.
What most non drummers don't realise is that if someone's a good drummer, they have good technique, and it actually takes very little effort to play like that.
After the initial expenditure of energy to get fills and rolls going, we utilise the rebound of the sticks and spring tension of the pedals to keep things going. Once technique is good it's not thtt difficult to play stuff like this with little sweat.
Agree. But getting there... getting to the point where you can easily know/count/intuit your time signatures, remaining in the pocket of not only the song, but what you are talking about... i refer to as the pocket of the drums themselves..(the bounce/rebound) and keeping them aligned with near perfectly even velocity except certain accents, also coaxing/encouraging the tones out of the drum through placement of hit, how hard/soft, how long/short of a time the stick connects etc... and that level of speed obviously... getting to the point where drummers are basically intuiting the songs and it’s “easy” on them deserves the praise they are getting anyway even if its a little misplaced. Im sure you agree, I just wanted to add that here so no-one reads this thinking that he doesn’t deserve the attention he gets or something silly. Anyway, its good to see this actually written out. I think about exactly what you said almost every drum video.
The most intense reaction to Bleed I’ve ever seen! Great man! Now you have met the king of polyrhythms. 🤘
Tomas writes all of the lyrics as well... the dude is a beast.
The fact that this is a live recording not only the video but of the music is just unbelievable.
Great video! On the socks, from what has been said by Thomas and his spouse in interviews and posts, the socks he uses are a specific brand that he got very used to... and then they went out of business.
They proceeded to buy up a HUGE supply of these to try and have enough to get through the rest of his career without having to change.
Meshuggah is unique in how the progression of each instrument (vocals included) through their songs is a caustic serpentine journey with each instrument falling in and out of the beat. Just when you think they have come together the bass or the the guitar or the vocals falls it into its own rhythm while the drums relentless drives it’s own changes and syncopated beats. One of the most brutal sounds in metal 🤘
"when ever you think you have a notion of what the beat pattern is, they go and change it!"
This is basically Meshuggah's MO. Every time you think you got it, they take it away. Keeps you constantly on your toes.
Great reaction! Meshuggah is a huge rabbit hole. You'd be into Haken, they have similar rhythmic qualities but they incorporate a lot of melody and harmony. I recommend Carousel from their new album Virus.
Respect to you for react to this masterpiece
Love that hockey analogy comparing the drummer to a goalie, well put 👍🏻
8:55 The guitar solo is the same as in the album. All in all its pretty much identical as its on the album. Whats also amazing is the lights. When you pay attention to it, you can see the lights are matched with the polyrhytms the band is playing(he has memorized all the songs in order to do this). They count the guy who does the lights the 6th member of the band.
Meshuga are the kings of relentless odd count beats carried on for entire songs. Should check out Between the Buried and Me for a good collection of transitions and changes to tempo and counts!
People from any and all musical backgrounds should hear "Extremophile Elite" at least once.
Amazing video dude!
I've watched every reaction video to Bleed, it will never get old 💯🤘🔥
That song soothes my soul.
Gotta watch Meshuggah Clock Works drum cam! So insane
Loved the video
The thing about metal is that it's about exploring the boundaries of human emotion, of musicality, of composition, of ability. It's about pushing, pushing and pushing into the unknown.
Haha! Great reaction! “I wan take up drums so that I can quit in disgust when I realize I’m never going to be that good” ... that mirrors my own thoughts on taking up singing when I hear great singers... or any other musical instrument for that matter.
You totally remind me of the music teacher from my school. Which is awesome. Keep up the videos!
“i’m not ready it’s 8:30 in the morning.”
me at 335am: “my body is ready.”
@Ken there is definitely a guitar solo at that specific part of the song on the album, but not that exact one. I've seen them live several times and he usually just does some trippy riffing
Something even crazier is that it isn't triggered lighting. They have a lighting tech that 'plays' along to the music and taps it out on the lighting desk. Look up meshuggahs lighting tech
Half true, they no longer do it manually, the last few tours have all been pre-programmed lights. But yeah for quite a while they had, I believe, Tomas' cousin doing it!
Yeah I didn't believe that until I saw this clip
ruclips.net/video/MiSr8iNwWsw/видео.html
Great reaction Ken! Meshuggah are one of the inspirations of a sub-genre of progressive metal sometimes labled as 'Djent'. If you want something that is percussively as interesting as this but with a more melodic vocal style try reacting to a band called Tesseract.
You were asking what different styles metal bands will incorporate?
Igorrr - Tout Petit Moineau @ Dour Festival 2014
This one would be super awesome to see, yeh.
Yes yes please yes!!
I love the openmindedness, if that is even a word.
Oh if we're going Haake, you've GOT to do Clockworks, it's an absolute masterpiece in drumming excellence.
Now do Meshuggahs ”Clockworks” drum cam! Bleed is a force of nature, Clockworks is more... Meshuggah. :D
I think what confuses a lot of people on the timing is Haake is playing straight 4/4 timing up top and a rolling 23/16 on the kicks for the majority of the song.
What? It's basically a variation of a 3 against 4 polyrhythm. The emphasis of the kicks (in the beginning) is on every dotted eight note (same length as 3 16th notes), but instead of just dotted eight notes he plays hertas. So for every 3 quarter notes there are 4 hertas on the basedrum but (and there you were right) the song is in 4/4.
I don't understand how you came up with 23/16.
Um this is a 3/4 polyrythmn my guy, I'm not sure how you got 23/16?
If you bothered to look it up, it's A poly rhythm of 4/4 over 23/16 bimeter, Haake himself breaks it down and discusses it in a doco and in different interviews. I'm no expert in these matters I just enjoy music but i'll take his explanation of his own music over yours I think.
Uh no, the majority of the song is a simple 3 over 4 polyrhythm. There are no 23/16 patterns in Bleed. The section at 4:18 (in this vid) is a 27/16 double bass pattern. Second verse is a 5 over 4 rhythm, the solo is an insane 87/16 pattern, and the breakdown part is a weird offset 48/16 pattern, but there are no 23/16 sections. Haake was probably referring to another song or doesn't remember the time signatures off the top of his head. You don't need to know the technicalities of your music to perform it; its all 'feel' and muscle memory. Just went through the entire song, identified each repeating pattern, counted them up and double and triple checked, and I'm 99% sure there are no 23/16 parts in there.
@@Koivisto147 well there ya go, nuts timings one way or another.
It took them like 3 months to rehearse this song before it was flawless. So much work and dedication put into a song, gotta love it.
I think they played the song almost exact like on the album, including those freaky solos. I wonder if they enhanced the sound of the video you watched. Those guitar solos sounded almost too good.
You know whats cool for us metal heads, is that when we go to work, and we listen to things like what they create.... work gets done.
Never before have I seen a musician handle multiple time signatures with such grace.
We should start a petition to have Ken guest sing Bleed next time Meshuggah tours thru Canada!
Two things ken as you possibly head down the Shuggahole ;)
1. It’s pronounced Thomas “Hockey” 😁 to us Americans at least. Him and the rest of the band might pronounce it slightly different.
2. If you check out any Meshuggah, I HIGHLY suggest checking out their early stuff from the 90s, it is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUSLY ahead of its time, and Tomas has always been such a beast at the drums.
Great reaction! Glad you finally got to the drum cam!!!
This is my second time here. Shamalamading dong was first, and now son of a beach towel. Ya got me. I subscribed, liked and rang that thingy. Keep it up!
Thanks JohnnyAshtray, I will try!
Thanks you for the hockey metaphor! I play and what you said was initially true. The drummer is your goalie and if your drummer isn’t playing well then the team doesn’t play well or in the case the rest of the band. 100% agree
Always fun to watch the uninitiated witness Haake's perpetual foot herta thing thru this! :)
Beauuuuuuutiful reaction Ken
love your reaction videos... love to see more.
// looking through archives now.
Time for a little Melody Cristea front room for the band LILIAC (pronounced (Lil -EEE-ack) - MARS (Original) (Live in Cumming, GA 2019)
Tomas Haake is a master of beatpatterns. Very few can do what he does!
Great reaction!!
I can only recommend you have a look at "MESHUGGAH - Clockworks (DRUM PLAYTHROUGH w/ TOMAS HAAKE)" as well...somehow I doubt you will be disappointed ;)
Like someone said: 'Meshuggah is like listening to an optical illusion"
Your sincerity and enthusiasm is so wonderful, thank you Ken! Love your videos. Keep em coming. Where can I send recommendations for you to check out?
Haake spent more time learning this track after writing it than he spent on all the new tracks on their newest album. Dudes a machine.
Dont mistake what you are feeling with tension. Its energy. Pure raw energy. You channel it the way you want based on bias, perception and assumption.
things i cant understand:
1- how radio or tv works
2- evolution
3-Bleed's entire drum section
:D
8:04
SOCKS!!
Now do Gojira- Heaviest Matter In The Universe or Le'Enfant Savauge! Or anything by Gojira, you won't be disappointed 😁
"The gift of guilt" is a masterpiece!
Gojira are like a perfect gateway to the heavier world of metal. At least they were for me :P
I cannot get enough of this reaction video. (y)
I love your channel