Meshuggah – ‘Rational Gaze’ from Nothing

Jamie Roberts: Most people prefer the second version [re-mastered by the band four years after the initial, hastily-made release], but I prefer the original. I was into Meshuggah quite early on considering my age, and the reason I chose ‘Rational Gaze’ is because it’s a song that just developed me as a person. It was a song I listened to all the fucking time. I learned it on drums as my practice, I played Meshuggah as my warm up. It’s a very important track. Also it’s fucking catchy, but uses only three notes. It’s the first time I heard something and realized that you don’t have to do these metal Olympics, shredding all the time. They just get you into a hypnotic rhythm. Meshuggah’s music is almost like trance music, in a way.

I was getting everything from the local CD shop. I can remember what the stand looked like, where they'd have their top picks, and Meshuggah was always on there. At first I didn’t like them, it was too choppy. I pigeon holed them with the Slipnkot and Killswitch Engage stuff that I really hated as a teenager. Back then I was so bothered with what image I was perceived as having, and I wanted people to think I was a weirdo. It wasn’t until I went back to Meshuggah that I really realised just how fucking genius they were. And still are, I know they still sound the same, but nobody else sounds like that. I found out they’d made most of ‘Rational Gaze’ on a computer and it just lifted a veil about what was really going on behind the scenes. How is it that Meshuggah sound like Meshuggah? How do I get to do that? They’re a pinnacle band for me, actually.