Best Meshuggah Songs

A list of the best songs from Sweden's masters of mind-bending, polyrhythmic progressive death metal.
The Top Ten
1 Bleed

I don't care what old school Meshuggah fans think. This is not only the best Meshuggah song, I believe it's the best song I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of songs laugh out loud).

The only thing that helped me maintain my mental state after being served a burger with almost raw meat at some 'british' pub in France after having to try to survive on French food for 2 months...

The drumming in this song is difficult as hell.. It took the drummer four months to practice.. Genius!

2 Future Breed Machine

I've never been able to listen to Bleed all the way through, not because it isn't good, but because it's boring, it's the same thing over and over for 7 minutes. Future Breed Machine is everything you could hope for in a Meshuggah song, technicality, brutality, chaos, complex lyrics, and jazz fusion melodies. And this was made in 1995, 2 months before I was born, 3 years before System of a Down released their debut and a year before Tool started to get really good.

This song is intense, definitely the Meshuggah equivalent of led zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven or Sabbath's Paranoid. Might not be the best there is but definitely what introduces people to the band.

3 New Millennium/Cyanide Christ

This song is amazing just because the first verse sounds hilarious.

I love porno
Look at me get hard
Vacuum up that
Celery
Ten letters
I rearrange my pathetic tissues
My insides, I replace, siamese porn
I eradicate the prepubescent me
Elevate me to Ohio, you mad Thor?
The carrot curse I am
Made into a word called " fee fallah fee fah yo rah"
Sam will take off my shorts
God replace my throat with farts
AN OREO
Beating off is like jabbing glass into my body

Such a hard choice with this list. However I must take this one, the lyrics, time signatures and all round aggression of this song are outstanding. Corridor of Chameleons is really good too

4 Rational Gaze

The song that introduced me to Meshuggah. GROOVY and BENDY: the song pushes you around, disorients you and the changes between the sections literally make you want to go insane.

This songs just drives me crazy! It makes me want to bash and break everything near me. Most violent song I've ever heard.
m/

Introduced me to Meshuggah, best song to head bang like crazy.

5 Straws Pulled at Random

The second half, which is mostly instrumental, is probably the best thing Meshuggah has ever written. So heavy, yet so melodic and intensely emotional.

The riff in the second half of the song can get stuck in my head for days.

The perfect combination of extremely heavy and beautifully melodic.

6 Demiurge

Just Meshuggah at their best, Demiurge is heavy and powerful a true metal hymn!
Can't take it off, just repeat, listen some other song and come back to Demiurge catchy repetition and atmospheric aggressive sound.

The song that got me into Meshuggah. Seriously it's the most headbang worthy song in the history of Meshuggah and metal in general. You wonder if there's anything heavier, but no. There isn't.

Demiurge is most addictive song I've ever heard. And god knows I've heard many songs before it! Just let the music taking control of your head.

7 Corridor of Chameleons

I'm a huge Meshuggah fan, and I think this songs represents everything that's so devastatingly awesome about them. The super-thrash intro, the insanely heavy groove of the the mainoutro riff, then the pummeling weight of that break down... this song should be higher on the list.

Such magical intro, highly metaphorical lyrics, and beautiful outro. The lyric indicates human's lies, which are indicated with chameleons.

The outro riff is the catchiest, heaviest riff I've ever heard in my life.

8 Combustion

The opening song of the 'obZen' album surely gave Meshuggah the credit they deserve after their 'Catch Thirty-Three' experimentation. The intro is unbelievably heavy until it just explodes when Tomas Haake hits the hi-hats.

This is one of the most adrenaline-inducing songs I've heard, it makes you want to break something, or someone.

This song explodes. It makes you want to punch someone in the face.

9 Behind the Sun

This song and the song SUM are unbelievably underrated masterpieces.

I think they are meshuggas most powerful songs.

10 I Am Colossus

This song is so good. The video totally reminds me of a tool music video!

Totally ingenious... Rips out the truth abouth the entity called as god

The Contenders
11 Clockworks

This is a masterpiece, the intro is mind blowing. It should be in the top 3, and it's by far my favorite Meshuggah song. ObZen (the title track) and Combustion better than Clockworks? come on.. Seriously?

Couldn't have chosen a better opener. The video is awesome too.

12 I

In my opinion, I is the best of all Meshuggah's songs. Firstly, because it is a masterpiece of techniques, secondly it seems to send you in another dimension, composed by rage and impetuous violence! Special mention to the drummer who plays in an excellent way.

By far my favorite Meshuggah song, it's extremely random and varied, it has everything that makes Meshuggah who they are in the space of 21 minutes.

Sure this one's 22 minutes, but it also perfectly encapsulates so much of Meshuggah's career, and is just plain good.

13 ObZen

Personally this was one of the first songs that I heard off off the album obZen along with Lethargica I even had to get the whole album it was definitely an experience. But obZen Live off of the ophidian trek sounds a bit heavier in terms of vocals and guitar and the lyrics are say numbers about society and it's corruption.

Brilliant song from a brilliant album. The main riff is brutal and well tamed at the same time one of my favourite songs ever by Meshuggah

Killer intro! Some sick riff in the breakdown accompanied by inhuman drumming makes this song my top choice.

14 Pravus

This song really sums up the more evil side of oBzen. It's also got this really menacing element to it that Meshuggah often do but never really achieve to such a stage as Pravus does. Really lives up to its name as it is such a demonic-sounding song. One of their best easily.

Maybe my favourite Meshuggah track.

15 Dancers to a Discordant System

I love the way he slowly goes from growling and then explodes into an incredible scream. Also the guitar riff sends shivers down my spine.

The lyrics alone make this song the best. This song also has the best riffs and it just 10 minutes of groove against traditionalism.

The guitar riffs are insane and the transition from quiet growls to brutal screams always sends shivers down my spine.

16 Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion

The flow is mesmerizing. The beat sounds basic at first, but then good luck figuring out the pattern. All aspects of this song are perfect.

This is one of my most favorite songs by Meshuggah, great sound and intense!

Catchiest riff of theirs in my opinion. It's heavier than osmium.

17 Ritual

You will forget that metallica exists.

I love the guitar solo, makes my day.

18 Sickening
19 War

Brutal, fast, aggressive.

Possibly the most underrated Meshuggah song.

Love it though.

Most overlooked meshuggah song... Absolutely insane!
1: Bleed
2: War
3: Future Breed Machine

20 Do Not Look Down

Great song really catchy riffs seems easy but very complex like many meshuggah songs but has enough metal for a fan of heaver music to get into.

New Millenium Cyanide Christ is already quite high so I'm gonna vote for this! I love the Koloss album and this is the best song on it!

21 Sane
22 Elastic
23 The Demon's Name Is Surveillance

Pure, raw and backed by some solid helicopteresk drumming. Perfect for cranking up your energy level.

24 Soul Burn

All great elements of Meshuggah. VERY dynamic song. Technical mellow passages, awesome fills, eerie whispered vocals, heavy riffs, absolutely brutal shout vocals, amazing solo, absolutely brutal rhythmically dissonant riff in the second half. Isn't repetitive like some of their newer stuff, just absolutely amazing journey in such a short song

To me, this song has every good element in it that Meshuggah both old and new have to offer. Soul Burn has all the polyrythmic weirdness that the band are known for, but it's still metal as hell. What I'm saying is that this heavy bastard of a song is complex yet Pantera all at the same moment. This would be a great first Meshuggah song to listen to.

25 Lethargica

From the heavy beginning to the interesting leads and heavy vocals this is probably one of the most distinct Meshuggah songs in my opinion, and makes me feel like I've discovered some ancient dark secret every time I listen to this song it's dark and menacing.

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