Programmed To Appease You – Destroy Erase Improve At 30

It might be hard to believe at this point, considering the band’s gargantuan stature in the music industry, but Meshuggah had rather humble beginnings.

Take their 1989 self-titled debut EP, for example. It had much more in common with …And Justice for All than the groove-heavy, polyrhythmic sound for which the band would become known. And while 1991’s Contradictions Collapse definitely showed signs of what would come – primarily the introduction of their time signature trickery and a great growth in their snide, critical lyrics – when listened to in light of everything that followed, it still seems rather rudimentary and formative.

However humble those beginnings, the seeds of growth were already present and were sprouting fast. The advancements heard on 1994’s None EP were significant, even if there were still holdovers from Contradictions Collapse (Jens Kidman’s attempts at singing like late 80s James Hetfield still sound rather hilarious all these years later). This is when the band became fully formed: Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, bassist Peter Nordin, and drummer/primary lyricist Tomas Haake. Make no mistake, None was a beastly step up, but even that level of growth could not have predicted what the band would achieve just one year later.

Any remnants of that humble start were shed in 1995. Destroy Erase Improve was and remains a true watershed moment in heavy and progressive music, an album for which there is a distinct before and after. It maintained the aggro thrash of the earlier works, but applied so much polyrhythmic insanity, techno-paranoia lyricism, and atmospheric goodness (Thordendal’s jazz side is all over the album) that it became something new, more advanced, and futuristic. Nothing else sounded like this in 1995, and you’d be hard pressed to find anything that sounds like it now. It still sounds like the future, as all of Meshuggah’s imitators are still fighting to catch up to this one singular moment. Reminisce with me, won’t you?

Programmed to appease you
We’re symbols of perfection
Humanoids ruined by your laws:
Destroy Erase Improve

The sounds of machinery, a sudden, distressing klaxon, a guitar chug that simultaneously works with and is at odds with the drums. If Destroy Erase Improve was Meshuggah’s arrival, “Future Breed Machine” is when the balloons dropped at the party. From that alarming opening, monster chorus, and quieter solo section through to the destructive finish, “Future Breed Machine” set the bar for the rest of the album in terms of aggression, sophistication, and well, just sheer radness. It instantly became an all-time heavy metal opening track.

We wouldn’t be here discussing this record 30 years later if the rest of the album didn’t also deliver, and thankfully the whole of these tangled and twitchy 45 minutes continues to expand and contract, rage and calm in equal measure. “Beneath” kicks off the rest with the kind of pull-off, catch-and-release djent riffage that would sound at home on several of Meshuggah’s later records, while also offering several lead guitar moments that are as soothing as they are rather disquieting. It’s subtly complex in mood, something the ensuing track also manages despite the gargantuan heft. “Soul Burn” is, to put it bluntly, almost impossibly heavy, with the kind of riff/gang shout pairing that would make any crossover thrash fan smile. But oh that solo, that solo with its stutter-thrash accompaniment. Chef’s kiss, folks.

Oceans of sewage continual
Washing into our minds
Drowning in wasted integrity
With eyes too open to see vanity

Nearly every song on Destroy Erase Improve plays this delicate balancing act between being punishing, beautiful, and perplexing. The chorus riffs of “Transfixion” will neck wreck you into oblivion with their rhythmic wackadoodlery, and “Vanished” similarly hammers, hammers, and hammers some more, but both find time for spacious passages and trippy solos. If that sounds familiar, it’s because by this point Meshuggah’s formula for the album has really come into focus: be very heavy, very angry, and very rhythmically advanced, but make sure the quiet moments and jazzy guitar solos impact the mood just as much as all that rage. Eventually this complexity and balance might have you asking two very important questions: “How does one possibly headbang to this?” and also, “How does one possibly not headbang to this?” Meshuggah crafts music as suitable for the pit as the college music conservatory. It’s perplexing, but it moves asses.

It’s a formula that, as the record progresses, works between songs as well as within them. Soft, ghostly instrumental “Acrid Placidity” almost acts as a gorgeous, deceptive opener for the tricky, pummeling, and rather punishing “Inside What’s Within Behind,” which itself features a solo that seems to battle its own accompaniment. Even when it gets quiet, it refuses to be comfortable, and eventually fades out, leaving you unsettled as “Terminal Illusions” itself slowly fades in before its all-out assault on the listener (and eventually a wild Thordendal solo that sounds as much like an electric violin as it does a guitar).

The pressure on humanity
Has risen beyond control
We are leading evolution
Into termination

The point: even on just their second full length record, Meshuggah was thinking about albums as holistic things, not just collections of songs. From Kidman’s roar and the monolithic riffs to Haake’s already advanced work behind the kit and Thordendal’s often alien work as a lead guitarist, Meshuggah showed up to these sessions fully formed, armed with an impeccable set of tunes, and ready to conquer.

And if you’re looking to conquer, why not just throw out the whole heavy/soft balance for one late album rager? That’s exactly what they do on “Suffer in Truth,” a song that seems rather basic compared to so much of the rest of the album because it is far less complex. But holy hell it absolutely destroys, and plays like an explosion of bottled up vitriol. It’s a great showcase for Kidman as a vocalist, not to mention a great example of how Meshuggah doesn’t necessarily need to go all music school to make a killer track.

If “Suffer in Truth” is the song that focuses completely on the heft, closer “Sublevels” does almost the exact opposite. It opens with somewhat restrained riffs and odd leads as Kidman takes a spoken word approach. Even when it explodes into aggression, the expectation is that this is brief, and that the band’s soft, eerie side will continue to dominate the track. It’s both a fitting ending for the record and a rather haunting one, as it doesn’t really offer a true sense of resolution. The message: the future is unclear but terrifying.

Mesmerized by the flames as I return
Into myself a slow conversion a silent
Change I wake into the brightened day

Meshuggah would of course continue to evolve. The ensuing Chaosphere reached almost death metal levels of intensity while doubling down on the complexity and twitch, while Nothing solidified the groove-heavy djent sound. They would use that as a jumping-off point for their most experimental phase (notably the I EP and Catch Thirtythree) before settling into an enviable and seemingly eternal veteran era that saw each album offering little twists on their sophisticated and irresistible formula.

But Destroy Erase Improve remains their most important record, the place from which so many of their ideas would sprout, and the moment when they announced their arrival to the musical world. It’s now considered a pillar of progressive metal, shows up regularly in best-of rankings, and is even on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest prog rock albums of all time alongside bands such as Yes, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson.

So yes, its influence is undeniable, but even setting aside its place in history, it’s amazing just how much goddamn fun the record remains 30 years after its release. Destroy Erase Improve wasn’t just a groundbreaking album for its progressive intricacies, but its release is one of those moments that many fans point to as a point when metal got radder. Meshuggah weaves complex, mind-boggling webs of polyrhythmic, stuttering thrash, rageful lyrics, and jazzy flourishes, but they’ve never lost sight of crafting catchy, bonkers good songs that set up permanent residence in your mind. Songs that you want to share with friends that might not be the biggest metalheads; music that you love to play when you’re trying to one-up your pals with the coolest of recommendations. Meshuggah is one of the ultimate “Yeah, well listen to this” bands of all time.

And they put it all together on Destroy Erase Improve – the songs, the sound, the complexity, the unparalleled sense of cool – never looking back in the decades since.

The hippest dudes in town, circa 1995.

Posted by Zach Duvall

Last Rites Co-Owner; Senior Editor; Obnoxious overuser of baseball metaphors.

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