Live Review: Meshuggah, In Flames, & Whitechapel Nov. 24th, 2023 Paramount Theater
If you ever heard of the musical term djent, than you have probably heard of a band called Meshuggah. Forming in 1987, this Swedish extreme metal band has been breaking barriers in the metal realm for decades. They’ve played across the U.S. and headlined some of the biggest European Festivals. They have also been nominated for a couple Grammis (Sweden’s version of Grammys in the U.S.)
Meshuggah is currently on their North American tour with support from In Flames & Whitechapel. Manor 208 had a chance to catch a show at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington on Pine Street. It has been about 6 years since Meshuggah has made there way across the Pacific North West, this is a tour not to be missed.
The Paramount Theater opened it’s doors in 1928, home to countless artist such as Queen, Heart, Pink Floyd, & The Greatful Dead, to name a few. It is one of the first of it’s kind, the floor plan was converted from a theater into a ballroom. The Seattle Theater Group, a non-profit, owns the building along with the Neptune down the street. Included in the richness of the building Paramount Pictures were one of the original owners of the building.
The first band to take to the stage was the all mighty Knoxville titan’s Whitechapel, probably one of the most poplar deathcore bands to date. Their sound has changed over the years trading deathcore for a more solid melodic metal sound. Their latest release Kin has had a warm reception from fans both new and old. Their setlist consisted of “Let Me Burn”, “Forgiveness Is Weakness”, “Brimstone”, “I Will Find You”, “A Bloodsoaked Symphony”, and finished out the show with a fan favorite “The Saw Is the Law”. 2024 is going to be a busy year for the band, as they are currently promoting shows for Live in the Valley and finish out the year with their 8th annual Christmas show with Signs of the Swarm, The Guild, & Sidlous.
The background music began to cut out and the lights started to dim. We were graced with the beautiful sounds of In Flame‘s intro to their newest album Foregone. This album is best described as a good mix of old material and current, that caters to the new and old fans. This album is the closest we’ve gotten in 15 years to re-capturing the magic that put the band on the map. It was good to hear some old tracks being played, such as “Darker Times”, “Everything’s Gone”, and “Take This Life”. They had great stage presence as well, in-between songs they were cracking jokes. At one point we were showing our worth screaming as loud as we could, to please the lead singer. As the show went on there were some crowd favorite songs played, such as “Cloud Connected”, “State of Slow Decay”, and “I Am Above”. In Flames and Arch Enemy are doing a co-headlining tour in 2024 with Soilwork in Europe, tickets on sale now.
There was a chant going around the venue at this time saying “Meshuggah… Meshuggah…”. Everyone was fired up and ready for the carnage. It’s very interesting with how the light patterns were synced to the drummer’s kick, making it a little more difficult to capture the band members as the lights flickered. Meshuggah is a very technical type of metal that is best described as a djent industrial metal. A lot of chugging of guitars and intricate drum patterns. As the viewer you are mesmerized by the lights, the music, and the ensuing chaos of the show. Everyone on this tour is super talented, and have defiantly had a lot of time to perfect their craft.
The setlist also included “Broken Cog”, “Rational Gaze”, “In Death -Is Life”, “In Death -Is Death”, and “Humiliative”. I was surprised to see two older songs make it on the setlist as an encore, “Bleed” and “Demiurge”.
I would say to any metal head that has a love for Swedish metal please come out to this tour, you won’t be disappointed. Tickets are still available for the east coast dates going all the way through December. Get tickets here. Be sure to follow Meshuggah on Instagram and Facebook.
