“And so, as I stood paralyzed in the audience at the Fillmore in San Francisco, feeling the floor bump and come alive with the bombastic earthquake of percussion and mayhem that is Meshuggah, I realized I would never forget how the sound hammered into my skull and made my brain swell, how it vibrated through my insides so that even my guts were pounding. Momentarily I lapsed, and recalled an article I’d read about the U.S. Military experimenting with low frequency sound and heavy metal music as potential methods of torture. Don’t get me wrong, this is suffering in the best possible way, if you know what I mean (I think you do.) For our cave dwelling readers: we want you to know that Meshuggah is the future of metal. I was totally thrilled when I learned they were coming back to the states and had a chance to catch up with guitarist Marten Hagstrom for a story in the June 2009 issue of Guitar Player. To see the real live Hagstrom talking up music and everything else under the sun (if you haven’t seen it for a while, it’s that great ball of fire in the sky) go to Meshuggah’s personal blog here.” —Deirdre Jones