Mithraic Magazine

I’m well aware that sometimes my thoughts piss people off, and I reckon this will be one of them. So brace yourselves, as this one might feel uncomfortable (like you’ve just pushed your finger through the toilet paper.)

But let’s talk about the philosophy behind black metal music.

Euronymous, the infamous figurehead of the early Norwegian black metal movement, and the guy maybe most famous for being Swiss cheesed by Varg Vikernes, embodied a philosophy of absolute musical and ideological purity. His slogan, “No trends, no core, no fun, no mosh,” was a war cry against commercialisation, accessibility, and mainstream appeal. Under this framework, one might assume that only the rawest, most misanthropic black metal bands could adhere to such principles. And yet, there exists an argument that an unlikely band has captured the black metal spirit more authentically than many of the black metal bands themselves.

We are, of course, talking about Meshuggah. In my opinion, anti-music at it’s finest. You hate it, right? Which kind of proves my point.

Meshuggah, despite never playing black metal, epitomised many of its core tenets. Their work, from Contradictions Collapse (1991) and Destroy, Erase, Improve (1995) through to Nothing (2002) and Obzen (2008), and even now with Immutable (2022), Meshuggah have demonstrated a total rejection of musical convention as the band progressed from a weird proggy-thrash band into the anti-music titan forging one of the most unique paths in all of music.

The complexity of their compositions, the relentless dissonance, and the sheer inaccessibility of their music positioned them far outside the reach of mainstream trends. Unlike many black metal bands that eventually succumbed to cleaner production and broader accessibility over time, Meshuggah continued pushing their sound into more abstract, atonal, and deeply alienating territory.

But to emphasise my points, Euronymous and the early black metal movement rejected both trends and core as part of his idealistic philosophy, and saw both as a compromise of artistic purity. Meshuggah operates on the same principle – rather than follow the traditional or typical metal lineages, they deconstructed metal entirely, creating something so complex and alienating that it defied categorisation.

Better put: they don’t follow trends, they have become the trend which is followed. Seriously, what genre could you class Meshuggah other than just extreme metal? It sounds only like itself. (Note: Djent sounds like Meshuggah, not the other way round.)

The resulting music has not just been anti-commercial, but actively hostile toward casual listening. Their rhythmic structures are so dense and unconventional that they challenge the listener, demanding a complete recalibration of musical expectations. Much like black metal at its most extreme, Meshuggah’s music is an act of defiance rather than compliance.

There are no anthemic choruses, no neo classical guitar solos, and certainly no attempt to make their sound appealing to the mainstream listener. Even for the casual metal connoisseur, Meshuggah can be a tough sale as Meshuggah make music so impenetrable and difficult to enjoy that it could never be absorbed into the larger music mainstream. Their approach, much like the early second-wave black metal bands, has always been about pushing music beyond its accepted boundaries.

Then there’s the rejection of fun. Black metal, at its foundation, is meant to be serious, cold, and unwelcoming. It is music of existential confrontation, not entertainment. Meshuggah’s work is similarly devoid of traditional metal’s enjoyment factor. Their music is oppressive, mechanised, and utterly humourless. Where black metal conjures imagery of ice-covered forests and cosmic nihilism, Meshuggah’s sound is like staring into the abyss of a soulless machine, its grinding polyrhythms as inhuman and indifferent as the void itself. It is not music to be enjoyed: it is music to be endured, dissected, and absorbed over time, just like good black metal.

Lastly, there’s Euronymous’ disdain for mosh culture – an indictment of metal’s growing shift toward accessibility and audience participation, and another unexpected link to Meshuggah.

Unlike the breakdown-laden, crowd-pleasing core bands that encourage movement and participation, Meshuggah’s music is physically alienating. The rhythms are impossible to headbang to in a conventional way as they exist outside the realm of predictable timing. Just as Euronymous saw black metal as a rejection of metal’s evolving crowd-friendly elements, Meshuggah’s music functions as an intellectual challenge rather than a communal experience. I mean, have you ever tried to mosh to a fucking polyrhythm?!

I know it’s controversial, but Meshuggah may be one of the most philosophically black metal bands to ever exist, despite having nothing to do with black metal sonically. It embodies the rejection of trends, the refusal to compromise, the embrace of alienation, and the complete annihilation of accessibility. Meshuggah’s work has always been an assault against metal’s evolution into more palatable forms – just as black metal once was.

While they may not wear corpse paint or perform in candlelit forests, Meshuggah’s approach to music aligns with the radical purity that Euronymous once envisioned. In their refusal to conform, their destruction of conventional metal standards, and their embrace of something completely unapproachable, Meshuggah may have become the most black metal band to never play black metal – and what’s perhaps most surprising, is at least by metal standards, Meshuggah is massively popular.

Let’s hope Ed Sheeran doesn’t hop on a track with Meshuggah and fuck up this essay, as he fucking well might… Meshuggah are probably popular enough to be Sheeran’d. (That reference will become relevant after reading my next article, which I’ll link here once it’s online.)

There, it’s over now. Breathe. Relax. Take your finger out. They were just words, they cannot harm you physically… only emotionally. The discomfort you feel right now will be over soon, as inevitably all life ends taking all pain and discomfort you feel with it.

BOSTKTB,
HTBLOF.

-D