Meshuggah without Fredrik Thordendal? How is it possible?! Though the Thords will be out “on a mission to explore some interesting stuff,” Meshuggah have gathered a brilliant replacement in Scar Symmetry’s Per Nilsson.

This summer, Meshuggah will open for Megadeth on a short run of U.S. tour dates. The killer bill is rounded out by Tesseract and Lillake, beginning June 23 in Big Flats, N.Y. Meshuggah’s disgusting guitar tone will have to exist without Thordendal, but we’re sure Nilsson will be able to carry Fredrik’s weight.

Meshuggah shared the news via Facebook earlier today (June 2):

So...we had to send our interdimensional Kazoospecialist Dr Thordendal on a mission to explore some interesting stuff. He's been asking for this assignment for quite a while and it seems now is the time to realize his aspirations. This would however leave the rest of us unable to deliver our usual tonal obscenities for quite some time... and obviously we can't have that!

So we put our five blocks of wood together and came up with a brilliant plan that we thought would be productive, intelligent and artistically mature.

We took some rolls of duct tape, a black hood, a sock with a cue ball and some rope and drove north from Stockholm in a sketchy van to fetch ourselves the prey we wanted, to fill the Kazoospot for a while. We won't get into the messy details but we can now proudly present our interim Lead Kazooist for the duration of "The Thords" hiatus: PER NILSSON!!

MAN he knows how to Kazoo!! You will meet him first time on our summer run in North America with Megadeth and be all the better for it!! Honestly, we could just send Per by himself but we decided the rest of us will tag along for moral support

*End of transmission*

Replacing Fredrik, even for a few shows, may seem blasphemous at first, but the fans are reacting splendidly to Nilsson. ‘Shuggah fans are also hoping Fredrik’s absence points to the creation of another Special Defects album, with 20 years having passed since Sol Niger Within was released.

Make sure to check out Megadeth and Meshuggah’s upcoming tour dates to see if the metal giants are coming to a city near you.

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