MESHUGGAH: Off NUCLEAR BLAST, Weighing Their Options

Swedish experimental extreme metal band MESHUGGAH have fulfilled their contractual obligations to Nuclear Blast Records and are currently weighing their label options before recording their next studio album. "We've got like three or four offers right now, one of which is from Nuclear Blast, because they want to keep us," guitarist Mårten Hagström told KNAC.com. "We're thinking that we'll do this tour [with STRAPPING YOUNG LAD], go home, and then we'll sit down and negotiate. There's really no rush. We've got a couple of festivals this summer, we're going to start writing new material, perhaps do a European tour. But slowly, we're trying to figure out where we want to go.

With regards to the possible musical direction of the band's next album, Hagström said, "There's only one thing I really feel that is important. We've never measured our success in terms of sales, because we're quite an extreme band. It's more that people understand where we're coming from. I get more out of a fan coming up and saying that we've totally changed their way of looking on metal music, than having like 200 kids buy it. I mean, it would be nice for the money, but that's not why we're in it. So what I'd like to see is that we keep progressing. Keeping the core of what MESHUGGAH has always been, but exploring the bar, so to speak. 'Destroy, Erase, Improve' was like exploring the dynamics of the band, 'Chaosphere' was exploring the aggressiveness, the all-out side, and 'Nothing' is more of a sinister, dark, pretty slow album, actually. So honestly, now I don't know where we're going. It might be a mix of all of them."

Although nothing has yet been confirmed, Mårten acknowledged the possibility of a MESHUGGAH live album at some point in the not-too-distant future, a prospect that has already been discussed between the bandmembers. "We've been thinking about it," he said. "Right now, it has to do with the label situation we've been in. Nuclear Blast might do it because they already have our back catalogues and they might want to wait a little bit for a new album. But if we sign with a new label, they're not going to want to put out a live album first. It also goes back to us being picky. We have to have a certain venue and set of eight or more nights to cut from, that we know are going to be good venues that will sound good for the recording. Live CDs can be perfect, if the sound is right, but personally, I think 80% of live CDs suck. I mean, I suppose it's a good thing for die-hard fans to have." Read more.