Meshuggah Interview With Marten Hagstrom

The Gauntlet: How has the reaction been to the new album?

Marten: Great! For every album, it seems like we are dividing the camp. People tend to expect stuff out of us that you know. We go with our own will and mind. It seems to be that most of the time people have to adjust to the album. Most of the time it takes a year or two to adjust.

The Gauntlet: That is true with most albums, it divides the fans.

Marten: Oh yeah. I don't think it is something that is unique to us. I am just recognizing that it happens to us a lot.

The Gauntlet: Why do you think people are embracing 'obZen' so early? It does have a lot of traits from 'Chaosphere.'

Marten: Yeah, that might be the reasons a lot of people are ready to accept it. The fans of the different eras are able to find something that they like. It was not really a conscious decision though. We just, as we always do, just do what we feel is right at that moment. We just happened to be in sync with our fans this time. It has been interesting doing this album. There are a lot of elements from our old albums in there. We wanted to still do that in a way that still is fresh to us. To go back to the essence of what you have been doing in your past career and revitalize is sort of a challenge in itself. It was a nice thing though. The whole thing was that we never go into it having too many preconceived notions on what we are going to do. We just go where inspiration tells us to go. One thing we felt like doing from the start was to have every song on this album be the last couple albums have been linear, so we wanted this album to have every song have its' own expression.

The Gauntlet: The recording took a little longer than anticipated.

Marten: Yeah, it took a little longer. We had to cancel our tour with Dillinger Escape Plan. We didn't want to cut things short like we did in 2002. We wanted to spend as much time as it took in the studio. To be honest though, this album has pretty much been finished since October of last year. It has been more of a thing where Nuclear Blast [Records] wanted to wait to put it out.

The Gauntlet: Can't fault them for wanting to do a good setup for the album. Usually the crap albums come out November through February.

Marten: [laughs] Is that how it works? I guess that is why. There was probably some marketing strategy behind it. For us we tried to finish it before winter started. We thought they would be releasing the album in November or at least January of this year, but they had other plans. That isn't a problem for us. We are just happy they got it out in a good frame of time.

The Gauntlet: They probably pushed the US release date back a little as you have the Ministry tour coming up which will be great for US press.

Marten: The boss at Nuclear Blast is the guy that dictates a lot. He has always been a great fan of ours. He was really hoping for a lot from this album. When he heard it, he was really excited and made it a priority for the label.

The Gauntlet: Having known when the album would come out would you have done the Dillinger Escape Plan tour?

Marten: The tour itself was looking really good and we wanted to do it. At the time, we just felt we needed to finish the album before we toured. We could have taken leave and come back to the album, but that option didn't feel really compelling to us. It would have been hurtful to the album. We just wanted to finish up the album the way it needed to be finished. It wasn't really that hard of a decision.

The Gauntlet: I assume that the drum tracks on the album aren't programmed this time?

Marten: No, no. Tomas did them live. When we actually decided to use the programmed drums for Catch 33, that was not our way of positioning ourselves for the future. It was more out of convenience. Especially with the song structure of one long track of 47 minutes, it helped to work that way out of sheer efficiency. With this album, we wanted a more live oriented album that consisted of songs. There was never any discussion. That is the way we have always done it. We just took a step off for Catch 33 for reasons that had to do with efficiency mainly.

The Gauntlet: I was shocked to hear this album was going to come out on Nuclear Blast Records. Meshuggah has had many issues with the label in the past. I know they said one of your albums didn't count as a release towards your contract.

Marten: We have had a lot of differences with those guys through the years. That particular issue resolved itself. We saw things differently and felt we needed to compromise as nobody was happy with the situation. We came to an agreement. As far as Nuclear Blast is concerned, we have been having a bumpy ride for up til the last five years. From then on, we have actually been seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to a lot of things. I think that in any working relationship when you work with the same people for a number of years you are going to go through that. We finally came to understand where each other was coming from and have a really good relationship right now. A lot of people were thrown by the fact that they would be releasing "obZen." In any situation where you have an artist and a label, there is going to be some tension because they are going to want to look at things from a different point of view. We have had offers through the years from other labels, but they always want to alter our product and make us something we are not. To be honest, Nuclear Blast has never done that and they have never tried to meddle in the creative process. There alone we have a situation that we really are appreciative of. When it comes to business and contract stuff, it has not been much of a problem. We have just been talking different languages. We'd ask a question and they'd answer not in the way we want or sidestep things. Mutual understanding comes after several years and we really didn't want to trade that in for another label.

The Gauntlet: Tomas has for the most part come up with the artwork for the albums. Why the departure from that for "obZen?"

Marten: Well, several reasons. I guess the major one being that Tomas was that Tomas came up with the concept for the current cover art. So it comes from the Meshuggah camp. Why we felt we needed to do this was Tomas said this thing demanded it. To me, I find it paradoxical and funny. We wanted something to look real and not photo shopped and CGI. We wanted to try to get something out of it to look more real. We wanted a photo artist to do it. We got to do it. I think he did a good job at coming up with what we wanted. It still looks computer generated. It is a duel thing there. We wanted the authenticity of the photo art, but I don't know if we succeeded.

The Gauntlet: It is very different from previous albums.

Marten: Exactly. We felt we needed something to not look generic like what we used to do. I like the old art, I like what Tomas does. He more than anyone felt it would be a fresh thing to get away from something drawn up and to do something with photo work.

The Gauntlet: What do the 3 arms in the cover art symbolize?

Marten: If you look at it, you have the guy in the perfect Zen moment, except he is covered in blood. It suggests that humanity finds its inner moment of peace through bloodshed and greed. If you look at him, he is sitting in the lotus position which is pretty traditional. But if you look at the way he holds his hands and why they are highlighted, it suggests something else. Each of the hands represents 6. Very generic.

The Gauntlet: Oh, very cool.

Marten: When you look at the hands and the image, it isn't what strikes you, even though they are highlighted. With the American cover, it got censored so the concept doesn't get through.

The Gauntlet: Was it the label or one of those big box retailers?

Marten: To be honest, I can't really tell you. It might have been the label. We just sent in the cover art and everyone told us it was fine. Then we got word back it wasn't ok. It is kind of weird. The cover itself is uncensored; it just has a sleeve covering it. Not many people browse the records for cover art. Some do, but not the majority. I think that's why the label thinks it isn't as important, to us it is though.

The Gauntlet: Meshuggah, like most metal bands sites Metallica as an early influence. What do you think of Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett recently saying in interviews that they are listening to a lot of Meshuggah to get the right sound for their upcoming album? It has come full circle. I think they also mention they are listening to Gojira.

Marten: It is weird, especially since Gojira proclaims they are heavily influenced by Meshuggah. It is surreally a strange situation. I really haven't given it much thought though. I guess it is a good thing to give something back. Growing up as a kid, Metallica, Anthrax and those bands were like Gods. Having them being inspired back by what you're doing this much later is like what you are saying, full circle. It is really cool though.

The Gauntlet: Is the Ministry tour your only planned US promotion for "obZen?"

Marten: No, after the Ministry tour, we will play a lot of festivals in Europe over the Summer. We are definitely going to go back to the US for this album. I don't know if it will be this year or next though.


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Tags:  Meshuggah, obZen, Marten Hagstrom, Marten, interviews

Jason Fisher    March 09, 2008