Forty years on, Meshuggah still play like the genre has not caught up to them. The Swedish quintet brings The Forty-Year Anomaly tour to Place Bell in Laval on Saturday, February 13 — the second night of a 32-date North American run and the first Quebec stop, marking four decades since the band first started dismantling the vocabulary of heavy music one polyrhythmic riff at a time.
About the Show
Meshuggah formed in Sweden in 1987, released a self-titled EP in 1989, and debuted their first full-length, Contradictions Collapse, in 1991. The records that followed — Destroy Erase Improve, Chaosphere, Nothing — are not just heavy metal classics. They rewrote the vocabulary of polyrhythmic and technical metal, influencing scenes the band itself stayed stubbornly distinct from. Immutable (2022) topped both the UK Rock & Metal chart and Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart, and a 2018 Grammy nomination put an official stamp on influence the genre had already acknowledged for years. Nine studio albums in, the lineup has stayed consistent: Jens Kidman on vocals, Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström on guitars, Dick Lövgren on bass, and Tomas Haake on drums. With Testament and Blood Incantation on the bill, this does not feel like a nostalgia exercise.
Testament supports, touring behind their 2025 album Para Bellum. Blood Incantation rounds out the night with Absolute Elsewhere (2024) and All Gates Open (2026) in their catalog. Get there early. Three bands at this level on one card does not happen often.
The tour opened the night before in Toronto. Leg one runs through March 6, covering the East Coast and Midwest with stops including the Brooklyn Paramount; leg two picks up April 15 in Vancouver, running down the West Coast before finishing with festival appearances at Welcome to Rockville, Sonic Temple, and Milwaukee Metal Fest. Meshuggah’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre debut lands April 21.
Venue & Logistics
Place Bell is an arena in Laval, Quebec. It’s the second stop of the tour after the Toronto opener — and it falls in the north-country coverage area. All-ages. Doors at 7 p.m.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. General on-sale begins Friday, October 30 at 10 a.m. local time. Artist presale launched October 27; Citi cardmembers received early access beginning October 27 via Citi Entertainment. Tickets are also available through Meshuggah.net. Buy tickets