My opinion is closer to "three really fucking great songs, the rest is simply good." It's all 'good,' it's a good album. It's just utterly unremarkable apart from those three tracks, I think.

Yes.
As much as I enjoy Meshuggah as a whole, I don't really like their 'new' approach of riffing since "Nothing". They're doing something nobody has done before in metal, but I don't like the excessive ultra low 8 string rubberband riffs (if you can call it riffs). They lack tension, literally.

Album of the year? Let's see what Testament have to offer with Alex Skolnick back in the fold...

Oh, and as far as younger (post Bruce Dickinson) 'metal' vocalists are concerned: Devin, Mikael Ã…kerfeldt, Mike Patton, Warrell Dane play in the same high end league.

That is of course, if Testament doesnt get stuck in some kind of 80's metal rut whilst writing.

According to Eric Peterson, it'll be 'The Legacy' meets 'The Gathering' - sounds perfectly fine with me. My only concernes are Paul Bostaph's occasional sloppiness on the doublebass (I would have loved to hear Nick Barker on a Testament album) and another interchangable production by Andy Sneap.

hmmm. i will need to listen to it again. im very un-opinionated about it right now. it didnt kick my ass the first time like catch 33 did. catch still being my favourite

im not a big fan of Meshuggah
but that song sounded very brutal