Fredrick Thordendal's Special Defects: Sol Niger Within (4.5/5)

Year: 1997
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Experimental Psychedelic Math Metal
TRT: 43:15

This album is absolutely mind numbingly insane. In the period of time between Meshuggah's Destroy. Erase. Improve. and Chaosphere, Fredrik Thordendal recorded this with the help of some of his other friends. Based on a dream he had, Thordendal created a trippy, disturbing journey through alien worlds and altered states of mind. I think it's safe to say that this is one of, if not the trippiest metal album ever made.

This is the original version of the album, and it includes the creepy organ tracks that were omitted from version 3.33, which was released by Relapse Records in 1999.

Sol Niger Within shows a distinct break from what Meshuggah had recorded up to that period (though it was hinted at in D.E.I.), with far more off-time and polyrythmic material. This set the stage for the Meshuggah of the past ten years.

Once you've had your face melted off for awhile, try listening to the album on shuffle for even more insanity. While the album is in theory one long piece divided up in to 29 tracks, the gapless nature allows for nearly seamless playback no matter what order the tracks are played in, and nearly unlimited versions of the album.

01 The Beginning Of The End Extraction (Evolutional Slow Down)
02 The Executive Furies Of The Robot Lord Of Death
03 Descent To The Netherworld
04 ...Och Stjarnans Namn Var Malort
05 Dante's Wild Inferno
06 I. Galactus
07 Skeletonization
08 Sickness And Demoniacal Dreaming
09 UFOria
10 Zet 1 - Reticuli
11 Transmigration Of Souls
12 In Reality All Is Void
13 Krapp's Last Tape
14 Through Fear We Are Unconscious
15 Death At Both Ends
16 Bouncing In A Bottomless Pit
17 The Sun Door
18 Painful Disruption
19 Vitamin Experience (A Homage To The Scientist/John Lilly)
20 Cosmic Vagina Dentata Organ
21 Sensorium Dei
22 Magickal Theatre .33.
23 Zet 2-Reticuli
24 De Profundis
25 Existence Out Of Joint
26 On A Crater's Verge
27 Solarization
28 The End Of The Beginning Of Contraction (Involutional Speed Up-Preparation For The Big Crunch)
29 Tathagata

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