MetalSucks' Vince Neilstein conducted an interview with guitarist Mårten Hagström of the Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH prior to the band's New York City show with CYNIC and THE FACELESS. An excerpt from the chat follows below.
MetalSucks: You guys came from Sweden with a lot of famous metal bands, at the same time as a lot of melodic death metal, which has sort of gone its own way now. How do you feel about that scene and those guys?
Hagström: I hate it. I totally loathe it. Listen, I have nothing against the guys in the bands. I have nothing against the bands. I'm happy for them. If they're doing well and if that's what they want to do then fucking, "Hey, good for you." If you're talking from my personal tastes, I prefer when bands play metal and not SLAUGHTER and pop music with fucking attributes of a metal band. You got two guys with distorted guitars and then you got two chicks singing and three keyboards and then they play "lalalala." It's not why I got into metal. It's not like I'm saying it can't be melodic. CYNIC is very melodic and still fucking awesome. There are a lot of bands that people appreciate a lot over here, like I said I'm happy for their success, but I do not care for their music at all. It's formula music. It's built the same way that pop music is. It's performed the same way pop music is with back tracks and everything. They're like, "Oh, we're so fucking bad-ass and we look so hard." Most bands from Sweden know what they're doing when they're playing. That's a great benefit. It might be music that I hate, but they can still pull it off, which is alright.
MetalSucks: It's good for all Swedish bands, I guess.
Hagström: I have nothing against it, but I would never listen to it. Having said that, there are a shitload of Swedish bands that I adore. THE HAUNTED is a great fucking band. ENTOMBED is a great fucking band. There is a lot of cool fucking shit around. A lot of the stuff that does well in Europe doesn't necessarily do well over here.
It's like NIGHTWISH, they're from Finland; to call that metal is a fucking insult. It's probably good music, but it's not fucking metal. No way. I told Markus, on our label Nuclear Blast (because they're on it),
"I know you're making a shitload of money, but you're making fools of yourself." 
He's like "I know". He's like that.
MetalSucks: At least they know what they're doing.
Hagström: Oh, they know what they're doing. They got it down. That's why they're doing well. Nuclear Blast is doing great.
MetalSucks: Yeah, they put out a lot of good stuff.
Hagström: They do. No doubt. It's not the melodic parts that are the problem. I love a lot of melodic stuff. If you listen to MR. BUNGLE, it's melodic all the way through, but it's great shit. I just want some thrill and excitement, something that makes me go, "Oh, these guys have an original idea."
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brava!
