Koloss
2012 album by Meshuggah
Koloss is the seventh studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah, released on 23 March 2012 in Germany, on 26 March in the rest of Europe, and on March 27 in North America, by Nuclear Blast.
Background
Tomas Haake stated, "As always, we try to take our music in a slightly different direction with each album and with Koloss, we feel that we really nailed what we were going for. Organic brutality, viscera and groove all crammed into a 54-minute metalicious treat, best avoided by the faint of heart!!"
The Koloss album was different from others in terms of cooperation and making music together. Fredrik and Mårten worked together in creating a couple of songs together. Jens Kidman who retired from guitar playing since their debut album Contradictions Collapse composed "Behind the Sun".
Release
The album was released on 23 March 2012 in Germany, 26 March in the rest of Europe and on March 27 in North America. It was released as a standard compact disc, as a digipak version featuring a bonus DVD, as a limited edition boxed set "magic cube" (a mock-Rubik's Cube featuring the album artwork, available only through Nuclear Blast mail-order), and a double-LP pressed on brown vinyl.
The album debuted at number 17 in the United States, with first week sales of 18,342 copies, the band's and record label's highest position on the charts. Koloss also debuted at number 27 on the Canadian Albums Chart.
Reception
Koloss received generally favorable reviews.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Koloss” is 2012 album by Meshuggah. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Koloss, album and Meshuggah, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2012 album by Meshuggah” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2698725. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Koloss”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Koloss primary sources, Koloss archive and Koloss research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Koloss”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Koloss” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.