Meshuggah aim for diverse 8th record

Meshuggah guitarist Marten Hagstrom says the band’s 8th album, expected next year, is going to be “pretty diverse.”

The follow-up to 2012’s Koloss is being written now – and it’s powered by the members’ different approaches to creating new material

Last month drummer Tomas Haake demonstrated how he took a rough rhythmic concept and developed it into a song.

Now Hagstrom tells The Jasta Show: “I’m really attracted by the idea of taking something that’s really household – so fucking generic that it can’t possibly get any more generic.

“But you do something with it that makes it a new territory. Not rewrite the whole thing, but just tweak it a little.”

He says he’s currently writing a track that started out as “tragic metal” but adds: “It doesn’t come across that way because I tweaked it that extra mile.

“And I know Tomas and Dick Lovgren have been working on a lot of stuff that’s really out there – so it’s going to be a very diverse album.”

Meshuggah last year launched live DVD The Ophidian Trek as part of the band’s 25th anniversary celebrations – along with a remastered edition of their one-track EP I.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.