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Re: Arse

Thanks for the list! As usually, I have heard very little of them. Enjoyed the Enslaved a lot, and have heard some of the In Flames (saw them open for Meshuggah last week, which was great—more on that in another email). I will try to listen to a few. I’ll tell ya what I did love is the new Overkill!

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MeshuggahImmutable

✦✦✧✧ 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.

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MeshuggahThe Violent Sleep Of Reason

✦✦✦✦ This is the culmination and perfection of Meshuggah’s explorations from their previous albums “Koloss,” “Obzen,” and “Catch Thirty-Three.” But more than ever in the band’s career, this material feels designed from the ground up to live for performance in front of a crowd, not Meshuggah’s prior standard of careful curation in the confines of a studio.

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Sweet, sweet metal

Now here’s a labor of love that I can get behind: London-based musician Pete Cottrell has recorded a cover of Meshuggah’s “Straws Pulled At Random,” in which he’s replaced all the percussion with samples of British sweets.

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Sport the war

A lot of hay has been made this week about the 10-year-old guitarist shredding some Slayer. And while I don’t think Kerry King should give up his search for a new co-guitarist, Audrey’s skills are pretty formidable.

But that’s just burying the lede. Pay attention to her 6-year-old sister Kate, doing a Shatneresque interpretive screamfest all the while.