Lords of Metal
Arrow Lords of Metal

TOMAS HAAKE on status MESHUGGAH: “There's nothing in the works”

12-11-2026

In a new interview with The Downbeat Podcast, hosted by STRAY FROM THE PATH drummer Craig Reynolds, MESHUGGAH drummer Tomas Haake was asked if there are any plans for him and his bandmates to work on the follow-up to 2022’s “Immutable” album. He responded: “No. What are you, nuts? Well, we’ll probably… There’s nothing in the works. We’re just gonna do this, we’re gonna do this 40th-anniversary tour, or two years of tours, and then we’ll see. No promises, but I think… What are we gonna do? We’re gonna make another album.”

Asked if he is ever completely happy with an album once it has been completed, Tomas said: “Most albums you always, and I think this is very common with most bands here, but it usually takes a bit of time or you have to just kind of submit to it. I think a lot of times we’re always a little disappointed, be it your own playing or overall sound production, whatever it might be.”

Referencing the fact that “Immutable” was remastered and released as “Immutable – The Indellible Edition” in April 2025 with an addition of three live tracks, Tomas said: “I feel very happy about the music on ‘Immutable’, but I do realize once we started talking about the remaster and then hearing the final result of actually doing remaster this quickly after the release, which we said is pretty weird, unusual, if not nothing else. But I realized that it’s a shame that that didn’t happen earlier or that that didn’t happen from the get-go, that it wasn’t that sound that it came out as. But I think it’s kind of intrinsic in a lot of musicians that when you’re a kind of self-deprecating, you’re always scrutinizing yourself so hard that you’re almost bound to be a little bit… Sure, you have the release of, like, ‘Oh, it’s done now,’ but you also have that like nagging, ‘Well, I wish I could’ve spent a little more time on this or that.’ But I think for me personally, I was more like that and I think we all of us were more like that the further you go back in time, as far as the self-scrutiny and the ‘imposter syndrome’ feelings and all that kind of stuff. And as you mature and you get older, you learn to also brush things off. Like, big deal. It’s a fucking album. Come on. It’s not the end of the world. As long as at least if you feel like you can connect or if you feel proud of the material, or at least if you’re okay with it, that’s the battle half-won right there. So, yeah, that’s how I feel about ‘Immutable’.”

As for what specifically he would change about “Immutable” if he had a chance to go back in time, Tomas said: “I think maybe there’s a song on there maybe, or maybe two, that if you look at just the chunk of music, because it’s a very long album…. I think it clocks in at — what? — almost 60 minutes or something like that. So looking at it more from just trying to place myself outside of the band and look in and, ‘What are you doing here, guys?’ If I was an executive producer for this album, I would’ve just probably taken a couple of songs out… I probably would’ve cut ‘The Faultless’. I mean, I love aspects of it, and we’re looking at it now as if the album is too long. If you have to scrap two songs… This is someone torturing me to have to take songs out. But I also love that it’s a very long album and that you have songs like that that kind of just gives it a bit of another vibe. It kind of takes you a little bit sideways.”

MESHUGGAH have announced previously this year that they will release of newly remastered anniversary editions of two of the band’s most important works: “Destroy Erase Improve: 30th Anniversary Edition” and “Catch Thirtythree: 20th Anniversary Edition”. Both titles will be available on vinyl, CD digipack, and digitally, featuring the original album artwork and newly remastered audio. Both editions will be released on July 24, 2026 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

The releases follow their limited Record Store Day editions, which arrived this April with alternate/reimagined cover art. For these wider anniversary editions, MESHUGGAH return both albums to their original visual identities while preserving the enhanced, remastered sound created for this milestone campaign.

Originally released in 1995, “Destroy Erase Improve” marked a decisive turning point not only for MESHUGGAH, but for the future of heavy music itself. The album introduced a sharpened and unmistakable version of the band’s evolving language: machine-like rhythmic precision, dissonant riff architecture, jazz-fusion flashes, and a level of technical control that would become foundational to progressive, extreme, math, and djent-adjacent metal in the decades that followed. Widely regarded as one of the defining metal albums of the 1990s, “Destroy Erase Improve” remains a blueprint for the sound MESHUGGAH would make entirely their own.

To accompany “Destroy Erase Improve: 30th Anniversary Edition”, the remastered single “Future Breed Machine” has been released, spotlighting one of the album’s most iconic and enduring tracks.

A decade later, MESHUGGAH pushed their vision even further with “Catch Thirtythree”. Released in 2005, the album stands as one of the band’s most singular statements: a continuous 47-minute composition divided into 13 movements, built around hypnotic repetition, shifting rhythmic illusions, crushing eight-string guitar work, and an atmosphere that remains uniquely immersive within the band’s catalog. Produced by MESHUGGAH, “Catch Thirtythree” also marked the band’s only full-length album built with programmed drums, using Toontrack‘s Drumkit From Hell technology as part of its stark, futuristic design.

In celebration of “Catch Thirtythree: 20th Anniversary Edition”, the remastered track “Shed” has been released on all streaming platforms.

Both anniversary editions reaffirm the lasting impact of MESHUGGAH‘s work across generations of heavy music. From the genre-redefining force of “Destroy Erase Improve” to the monolithic conceptual scope of “Catch Thirtythree”, these remastered releases offer longtime followers and new listeners alike the chance to experience two essential chapters in the band’s history with renewed clarity and weight.

“Destroy Erase Improve: 30th Anniversary Edition” and “Catch Thirtythree: 20th Anniversary Edition” will be available on vinyl, CD digipack, and digital formats on July 24.

MESHUGGAH‘s ninth studio album, “Immutable”, was released in May 2022 via Atomic Fire. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Violent Sleep Of Reason” was recorded at Sweetspot Studios in Halmstad, Sweden; mixed by Rickard Bengtsson and Staffan Karlsson; and mastered by multiple Grammy Award winner Vlado Meller (METALLICA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SYSTEM OF A DOWN). Visionary artist Luminokaya once again created the stunning cover artwork.

Orders can be placed here: https://meshuggah.afr.link/obzen

Since forming in 1987 in Umeå, Sweden, Meshuggah has developed into one of the most technically complex and virtuosic groups of players the metal realm has ever encountered, their distinctly unique brand of progressive, groove‐infused extreme metal inadvertently launching an entirely new subgenre. Crowned “one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands” by Rolling Stone, the band has earned the respect and admiration from fans and musicians alike. Stay tuned for more Meshuggah news in the coming weeks.

MESHUGGAH is:
Jens Kidman | Vocals
Mårten Hagström | Guitars
Dick Lövgren | Bass
Fredrik Thordendal | Guitars
Tomas Haake | Drums

Social media