To celebrate the release of their ninth studio album, Immutable, Meshuggah have also released a new music video for their song “Broken Cog.”
If you’ve seen your fair share of Meshuggah music videos, then you probably already have an idea of how dark and surreal the “Broken Cog” music video is. Meshuggah videos are by far some of the most captivating in all of metal; the artists behind these videos understand the band’s artistry – the band’s desire to explore the existential and haunting.
“Broken Cog” is certainly up there as one of the most intriguing and unnerving music videos that Meshuggah have ever released. You can check out the video below:
We recently interviewed Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake. In that interview, Haake talked about the lyrics and thematic exploration that takes place throughout Immutable; he also commented on the band’s legacy in creating “complex” music. At one point, Haake even brings up the band’s song “Broken Cog;” when asked about a moment in the writing/recording process of Immutable that made him proud, Haake said the following:
“Another thing, the opening track “Broken Cog” – it’s third times the charm with that one. We wrote it a while ago back in 2010/2011; we attempted to do something with it for Koloss and then we ended up not really trying. Then we tried doing it for Violent Sleep, but it was so weird for me. It’s really tricky to play as a drummer, because obviously at this point at time, we’re recording everything and rehearsing to a click track. It’s one thing when you have something going – it’s one thing to play to a click track – but to kind of sit and wait [starts mimicking clicking pattern that flows and then abruptly pauses]. Sometimes listening back to it for Violent Sleep, it just sounded insane. Like, I had no clue what I was doing. It was like, you’re constantly searching for the timing. So we ended up not doing it, but then we came back to it again. We still all loved it [and we said] we have to give it a try again. So we rehearsed it more, and this time for some reason, it was feeling way better. It ended up pretty cool and we’re going to play it live as well. Third times the charm with that. It has been there knocking on our door for like 12 years, so finally we let the poor bastard in.”
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Words by: Michael Pementel
