Meshuggah

Meshuggah (pronounced [məˈʃʊɡə]) is a Swedish progressive and avant-garde metal band from Umeå. The line-up is mainly made up of the founding members: Jens Kidman (vocals), Fredrik Thordendal (guitar), Tomas Haake (drums) since 1990 and Mårten Hagström (rhythm guitar) since 1992. The band has had a number of bassists, a position held by Dick Lövgren since 2004.

Meshuggah first drew international attention in 1995 with the release of Destroy Erase Improve, a fusion of the fast tempos of death metal, thrash metal and progressive metal with elements of jazz fusion. Since the album Nothing, Meshuggah has used eight-string guitars. Meshuggah is today recognised for its innovative, complex musical style, with structures built on polyrhythm. Meshuggah has been named one of the ten most important hard rock and heavy metal bands by Rolling Stone magazine, and as the most important metal band by Alternative Press. Meshuggah has only recently found mainstream success, but is above all renowned as an important band in underground culture.

Since its formation, Meshuggah has released eight studio albums, five EPs and eight music videos. The band has played many international festivals, including Ozzfest and Download Festival, and embarked on a worldwide tour from 2008 to 2010. A new studio album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, is released on 7 October 2016. Nothing and the subsequent albums charted on the Billboard 200. Their most commercially successful album, Koloss, debuted at number 17 in the United States, selling 18,342 copies in its first week. In 2006 and 2009, the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award.

The band's name derives from the Yiddish meshuga (which can also be spelt in many other ways, such as meshugene), meaning 'crazy' or 'cracked'.