‘Tandjent. Well, a pretty cool name, let’s give it a try’, is what I thought. Then I put it on. Brutal raw progressive metal, they told me. Smashing riffs an angry grunts were thrown my way in the first song, sounding, not at all like I expected, a bit like Meshuggah but with more logic. I planned to listen to the first one or two songs at first, but I ended up listening the entire album that first spin.

Flawless production, fragmented grunts, low, distorted riffs with clean, echoey solo’s here and there –think Textures- and very versatile drums. A great combination. Meshuggah of course, uses pretty much the same recipe, and adds a couple ounces of psycho and sickness. Therefore, when listening to Meshuggah, you can feel uneasy, not entirely comfortable, with Tandjent however there’s less sickness and psycho, making the music a lot more listenable on a lot more occasions. Listenable without feeling odd and out of place. That’s pretty good, because that is exactly the main reason why I haven’t listened to Meshuggah in a long, long time.

They have worked on this record for three years, and it shows. Everything sounds fantastic. Then again, if you’re a band consisting of only two members, you’ll have to do double the work. Two people, one band: it means you probably won’t be seeing Tandjent playing a live show anywhere soon. Too bad, because, on stage, with some light effects, some smoke, a gloomy atmosphere, it could really be quite an experience.

Give these two guys a record deal now and let them attract two more members to make a proper band. Then they can start conquering the world. In small portions of course, because this is music with a limited reach. For not everyone is nuts. Bottom line, I you like heavy stuff, low riffs, enduring mid-tempo rhythms with fragmented grunts on the beat, you’ll love Tandjent. In other words, if you like Meshuggah (and Textures), you’ll love Tandjent. Buy this album.