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✦✦✧✧ I’m sure my Meshuggah fanboyism is well established by now. Imagine then the pain I feel in having to give this album the lowest rating I’ve ever given the band.

The problem really comes down to the first three or four tracks, which establish a feeling for the album as a collection of B-sides, outtakes, and demos of guitar tone. Or perhaps a lampooning of what the band imagine a computer-generated extrapolation of their last four albums would sound like; if so, well played. It isn’t until “Ligature Marks” (twenty minutes into the 67-minute album!) that things start to get interesting, with the almost-ten-minute instrumental “They Move Below” the strongest material on the album.

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