22: Flux + ESP (4.5/5)

Year: 2010

Genre: Progressive Mathpop

Label: Best Before Records

TRT: 47:55

At first I wasn't entirely sold, but the more I listened, the more sold I got.

Now I'm bought and paid for.

They're like Circa Survive meets The Mars Volta meets Meshuggah meets glitter and glowsticks.

I'm in love. I can't get enough.

01 Plastik

02 Gotodo

03 Flux

04 I Am That I Am

05 Disconnecting From the Grid

06 Kneel Estate

07 Loopwhole

08 Power Is So Yesterday

09 Perspective Pleiadian

10 Susurrus

11 Abdomental

their EP ESP (Extra Sensory Play) is also fantastic.

Scarlet: Something to Lust About (4.5/5)

Year: 2003
Label: Ferret Music
Genre: Chaotic Math Metal
TRT: 12:24

Scarlet was a favorite in the Richmond scene for a long time before they signed with Ferret, but this EP is really what announced their presence to everyone else. Brash, in your face, and unashamed to call you out on your darkest secrets. John Spencer's furious vocals pull you in to the whirlwind, and when it's all said and done, you're left ravaged, and wanting more.

01 Revolver
02 Carbon Copy Killer
03 Sell Yourself
04 Erotic Antibiotic
05 Something to Lust About
06 Suicide King

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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

Search for Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects on Amazon

Battles: Mirrored (4.5/5)

#10 out of 10
Non-Metal Album of 2007

Year: 2007
Label: Warp
Genre: Instrumental Math Rock

This band knows how to rock Full of energy and spunk, their refreshing knack for strangeness is what really sets them apart from the crowd. While not truly an "instrumental" band, they vocals used are used in a purely aesthetic way, and are really no more than another instrument in the mix. They do things that you simply wouldn't expect, and keep you coming back for more.

01 Race : In
02 Atlas
03 Ddiamondd
04 Tonto
05 Leyendecker
06 Rainbow
07 Bad Trails
08 Prismism
09 Snare Hanger
10 Tij
11 Race: Out

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