I can't believe it's been three years since the release of Meshuggah's last album, the excellent Koloss. It seems like it's time for a new album.
The band had begun messing around with new ideas late last year, and the band have been writing all year. Meshuggah are currently in the midst of European festival season, so while on break from writing the new record, guitarist Mårten Hagström spoke to RockSverige.se and he was asked when fans can expect a new album:
"In twenty years. No… I would say sometime next year, but not early. We were supposed to be writing all summer, but stuff happened, and now we're doing this [playing at European festivals]. So, when we finish that off, we're gonna be writing… The last show for this summer is late August in Gothenburg, so when we finish off there, we're gonna go full writing mode again. And then hopefully we'll write through the end of the year and then start recording early-ish next year."
It would be safe to say that we probably won't get any new music until late summer, early fall 2016 at best. But that's still great news. Who knows? By this time next year, we might be rocking out to a new Meshuggah single! Interestingly enough, Hagström reveals that when he is writing new music, he does not listen to any music for recreation:
"Since we're in writing mode now, I don't listen to music, basically, at all. Not because 'I'm not gonna listen to music,' but it's just that… When you've got a lot of stuff to do… You know, I pick up the kid, go home, feed him, put him to bed, and then it's time for me to work, and I sit and play guitar for… whatever… many hours and try to make some new music, it's not like I'm gonna kick back and put on an album, regardless of style. But I listen to a lot of stuff; we all do. We don't listen to the same stuff, but we spread a lot. So we listen to metal, we listen to… anything, basically."
Whatever works, as long as you guys continue kicking ass, is fine with me!
