Live Review: Meshuggah at Theater at MSG (2025/04/24)

with special guests Cannibal Corpse and Carcass

Ticket Price: $80.30

When old-school brutality meets progressive innovation. When two legendary bands like Meshuggah and Cannibal Corpse share the stage expectations begin to soar. I’ve been looking forward to this one since it was announced and I will look back on this one for years to come. It was also my first time seeing a show at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, a massive 5,000+ person theater tucked inside the world’s most famous arena, which was a first class venue in itself.

As one of the bands from the first wave of death metal, going all the way back to the mid-to-late 1980s, Cannibal Corpse still has strong thrash metal roots evident in their sound and song structure. However, they are also fronted by one of the most recognizable figures in death metal history, most famous for the size of his neck and epic stage name “Corpsegrinder”. No one can windmill headbang like him and he’ll let you know. “He’s the fucking champ!” Cannibal Corpse has done it all, even making an appearance in the movie Ace Venture: Pet Detective, and are still ripping up the stage in their 50s. Almost 40 years of playing shows and they are still a headline-caliber band.

Anyone familiar with the Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah is well aware of their legendary status and reputation for having one of the best live shows. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read or heard someone say that seeing Meshuggah was the best show they have ever seen. I don’t know if I will go as far as to say it was the best show I have ever been to but the hype was not overstated and if anything the show was even better than I could have imagined.

There aren’t many genres where there is little-to-no debate about where it all started, and I think the band begrudgingly embraces the title, but Meshuggah is often credited for influencing the metal sub-genre known as djent. Now who took their influence and sparked the wave of bands that began to hit the scene in the mid-to-late 2000s is up for debate but the impact Meshuggah, and more specifically guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, had is unquestionable. The lineup has remained fairly consistent and drummer Tomas Haake has achieved god-tier status as well.

At the core of their music is a solid pulse that the listener will try to gravitate to, but the use of polymetering tricks the brain’s natural reaction to the count. They also use some subtle picking techniques that may not seem like much but the way it all ties together with the polyrhythms that Haake is playing makes for some of the most hypnotizing music in metal.

Not only was the setlist on point but the legendary light show that accompanies their music was insane. The lights are perfectly in sync with the music and the production level is second to none. The only band that I can think of that has impressed me to this level with their lighting was Tool, but I would probably give the nod to Meshuggah after seeing it for myself last night. The photos don’t even do it justice and it was actually difficult to get a clean shot with my phone camera because the lighting was so intense.

They played for a solid hour and a half, with very few breaks, and played four songs from my favorite album of theirs, obZen. There were two distinct moments when the music transcended sight or sound, and you could feel the floor flexing and rebounding under the collective wave-like force of the crowds energy. The first was about three songs in when they played “Rational Gaze” and then during their encore when they played “Bleed”. I still can’t get over how tight the band sounded and how vicious the tone was live.

I finally understand why this band has had such a profound impact on so many metalheads’ lives and I can confirm seeing them is more than just a concert, it’s baptism by metal.

Cheers and keep rocking!