Förmodligen en av de kändaste svenska extrem-metallåtarna ( om man nu kan kalla math-core/djent/progressive -metal för extrem).
47 miljoner spelningar på Spotify i februari 2023.
Tomas Haake: Meshuggah Facebook / obZen: Joachim Luetke (cover art), Nuclear Blast (label). Source: The Pit.https://www.wearethepit.com/2022/07/meshuggah-drummer-would-like-to-not-have-to-play-bleed-ever-again/
Jag lyssnar inte ofta på denna dänga, men låten är varje gång fascinerande att återvända till.
Främst musiken. Texten innehåller nämligen en engelska där det inte räcker med tre akademiska utbildningar, till hälften på engelska, för att förstå (tro mig, jag vet).
Personligen gillar jag riffen och trummorna och produktionen. Den är hypersnabb, tung, komplicerad, frenetisk och vrickad. En sanslös energi, som i många av bandets låtar. Passar ett band som heter Meshuggah (=galning). Sången är inte i min smak. Här är jag mer mainstream och konservativ.
It may be a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll, but the route is shorter if you want to get Twitter followers. At least if you are swedish and have a history with death metal.
Which swedish band have the most followers by far? If you are a mainstream metal bloke like me, you’ll be a bit surprised of the answer. Take a look at the chart below.
Measured 2020 10 10 – 2020 10 21,
But the most interesting thing with this is that Twitter is an other piece of evidence that it’s the swedish death metal bands, or at least bands with death metal roots, that really fascinates the worlds metal heads.
They even stand out if you compare with international big names in their genre, like for example still active bands like Cannibal Corpse (223 100 followers) and Obituary (140 100).
The whole list:
Band
Followers
Tweets
1. Amon Amarth
447 500
1 961
2. In Flames
329 000
7 567
3. Arch Enemy
300 600
7 219
4. Messhuggah
242 500
1 333
5. Opeth
177 100
1 417
6. Ghost
143 200
1225
7. Entombed
142 000
704
8. Sabaton
114 900
27 800
9. Hammerfall
84 100
8 100
10. Yngwie Malmsteen
68 800
9 499
11. Soilwork
68 400
2 514
12. Therion
58 000
446
13. Dark Tranquillity
42 300
310
14. Amaranthe
34 100
2 778
15. Pain
27 500
639
16. Avatar
24 900
1 137
17. Candlemass
23 800
415
18. Hypocrisy
17 800
410
19. Europe
17 800
626
20. Graveyard
11 600
677
21. At the Gates
11 300
1 630
22. Mustasch
8 664
1 300
23. Witchcraft
5 645
134
24. Pain of Salvation
5 701
212
25. Evergrey
5 127
6 127
Measured 2020 10 10 – 2020 10 21. Bands that obviously have stopped tweeting and or/bands that not have not obtained 5 000 followers are excluded. Haunted, Raubtier, Cyhra and Watain among others.
Regarding non kind-of-extreme metal genres, well, some seem to do ok, but it’s not a global mass movement of popularity, at least not on Twitter. It doesn’t help much that Yngwie tweet a lot of interesting guitar-stuff.
One exception seems to be the power metal band Sabaton. Power metal giants Blind Guardian has 94 100 followers, Kamelot 76 400 and Helloween 72 200 followers, but Sabaton has 114 000. (Well ok Hammerfall is quite strong as well).
What lies behind the successful strategy of Amon Amarth? Is it about popularity only or a smart twitter-strategy? After a bit of research I think it’s both: they are one of the most popular swedish metal bands on Spotify, and they tweet a lot – with lyrical excerpts, which they have in common with for example the other top three tweeters In Flames and Arch Enemy. (Isn’t that a promising observation for those that claim that young people doesn’t read anymore?) . And of course, they surf on the big wave of the neverending interest in vikings in the popular culture.
Twitter is of course only a snapshot of one of the sources and signs of global internet popularity. But take a brief look at Spotify-plays and you’ll see that there seems to be a strong correlation between twitter popularity and popularity in general.
