''Rare Trax'' is the first compilation album by Swedish

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tra ...

band

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...

. It was released on 21 August 2001 by

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. It compiles the three songs from the band's first 1989 release, ''

'', along with other rare songs that the band had recorded but never released. The CD-ROM also contains the music video for the song " New Millennium Cyanide Christ" from ''

Chaosphere ''Chaosphere'' is the third studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. It was released on 9 November 1998 by Nuclear Blast, and is the only studio album to feature bassist Gustaf Hielm. ''Chaospheres sound shows the band toning down ...

'', which features the band on a tour bus, air-playing all the instruments (with Jens Kidman yelling into a pen) and

headbanging Headbanging is the action of violently shaking one's head in rhythm with music. It is common in the contemporary rock, punk and heavy metal music genres, where headbanging is often used by musicians on stage. Headbanging is also common in tra ...

in unison. "War" was the first Meshuggah song to feature programmed drums. The remix for the song "Concatenation" is a slower version of the song with a different drum beat. The person on the cover and inlay photographs is tour manager Per Wikström.

Track listing

Personnel

Meshuggah

Jens Kidman Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Toma ...

− vocals *

Fredrik Thordendal Fredrik Thordendal (born 11 February 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the extreme metal band Meshuggah, of which he is a founding member. Along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagst ...

− lead guitar, bass, rhythm guitar on the 2006 re-release *

Mårten Hagström Mårten Hagström, (born 27 April 1971) is the rhythm guitarist for the Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. He joined the band after the release of their first album, which allowed Jens Kidman to focus on his vocal performances and give up rhy ...

− rhythm guitar, bass *

Tomas Haake Tomas Haake (born 13 July 1971) is a Swedish musician and the drummer of the extreme metal band Meshuggah. Known for his polymeters and technical ability, Haake was named the fifth best "Modern Metal" drummer by MetalSucks.net in 2012. In the J ...

− drums

Additional personnel

* Peter Nordin - bass on "Sovereigns Morbidity", and "Debt of Nature" * Gustaf Hielm - bass on "Don't Speak"

References

Meshuggah albums 2001 compilation albums {{2000s-metal-album-stub