Every so often, a man experiences something explosive. Some men have detonated nuclear blasts, and some men have had explosive diarrhea. What I experienced on October 5th at the Guvernment in Toronto was somewhere in between the two. Meshuggah, hailing from Stockholm Sweden, have perfected the art of stage presence. If you've ever had the pleasure (or disgust - whichever the case may be) of listening to Meshuggah, you would know that "rhythmically deviant" only begins to describe their brand of metal. Thanks to the Guvernment's very cool room design and complimented by a breathtaking lighting show, Meshuggah managed to magnify their intensity 10-fold in the live arena.

There was moments during the show that not one head was banging nor any moshers moshing, simply because it was a full-time job taking the experience in.

Meshuggah fans rejoiced upon the unfurling of the set list. The Swedes pulled out all the stops, performing early monsters like "Rational Gaze" and "New Millenium Cyanide Christ" as well as plunging into one of the more intense segments from 2005's Catch 33. I really don't care what you listen to, if you had seen this spectacle of a performance your life would be altered for better or worse. Much as the lives of many John Mayer fans must have been after exiting from the Kool Haus to find themselves in a sea of screaming, longhaired, goateed Meshuggah fans. Fanshawe's own Tim Fraser was seen crying, huddled under some trashcans in a feeble attempt to escape the madness.