How to Create a 'Second of Structured Chaos': Meshuggah's 'Catch 33' and the Representation of Paradox

The Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah is known for the complex rhythmic side of their music, employing a lot of polyrhythms and odd time signatures. In my analysis of one of their most famous works – the album Catch 33 (2005) – I emphasise the variety of ways in which the theme of paradox is represented, on a musical level but also in the lyrics, the structure, the compositional approach and the context. The way in which Meshuggah’s style fits Catch 33’s themes is the reason why I argue we can consider that album as Meshuggah’s quintessential work, and one of the most intelligent ways of employing musical features typical of what, several years after 2005, was to be called ‘djent’ music. My analysis will use the kosmos/chaos (order/disorder) dichotomy as main conceptual tool to illustrate some of the levels of contradiction represented by Meshuggah in their album, which dialectically seeks to balance the variety, complexity, imperfection of its starting material with elements that promote order, intelligibility and perfection. There is an on-going struggle for stability at work in this music, capable of magnifying the beauty of imperfection and the paradoxical truth behind the fact that we are “sentenced to a lifetime | a second of structured chaos”.