Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström has apologised for creating the Djent genre.
Hagström was speaking with Rauta at the recent Tuska Open Air festival in Finland and explains that the genre was born out of a “drunk misunderstanding.”
He says: “First of all, we’re very sorry for creating that genre – we didn’t intend to. Our bad. I think it’s a misconception, that djent thing. I think it’s kind of hilarious.
“It’s our lead guitar player Fredrik Thordendal being drunk back in the day, talking to one of our old-school fans, trying to explain what type of guitar tone we were always trying to get.
“He was desperately trying to say, ‘We want that ‘dj…,’ ‘dj…,’ ‘dj…,’ ‘dj…,’ sound and the guy was like, ‘What’s he saying? Is that a Swedish word? Sounds like maybe djent.’ That’s where it comes from. A drunk misunderstanding, as always with Meshuggah.”
Asked how he would describe their sound, Hagström replies: “Heavy experimental music. I don’t care if it’s progressive or not, it’s heavy. Either it gets into that math-metal, djent subgenre – that’s for other people to decide. We play aggressive, experimental music, and that’s basically it.”
Watch the full interview below.
Meshuggah recently wrapped up a run of tour dates in support of their 2016 album The Violent Sleep Of Reason.
