Contradictions Collapse Drum Setup: Tomas Haake's Meshuggah Debut (1991) | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

What drum gear did Tomas Haake use on Meshuggah's Contradictions Collapse?

Tomas Haake recorded Meshuggah's Contradictions Collapse (1991) with an early Sonor kit — the beginning of his relationship with the brand that would eventually produce his signature SQ2 Heavy Beech configuration. The setup featured two bass drums driven by a standard double pedal (this was before he developed the two-independent-single-pedal philosophy that defines his mature technique), a compact four-tom configuration, and Zildjian A Series cymbals including A New Beat hi-hats, A Medium Thin Crashes, an A Medium Ride, and an A China Boy. Sticks were Vic Firth 5A American Classic. This early setup reflects his pre-endorsement career before the signature techniques and gear associations he is known for today.

Is Contradictions Collapse Tomas Haake's first recorded album with Meshuggah?

Yes — Contradictions Collapse (1991) is Tomas Haake's first full-length recording with Meshuggah. Haake joined the band in 1990, just one year before the album was recorded and released on Nuclear Blast. Before Haake's arrival, Meshuggah had released a self-titled EP in 1989 with a different drummer. Contradictions Collapse is therefore the true origin point of the Haake-Meshuggah collaboration — the starting chapter of an arc that progressed through Destroy Erase Improve (1995), Chaosphere (1998), Nothing (2002), and all subsequent albums that defined modern progressive metal drumming.

How does Contradictions Collapse compare to Destroy Erase Improve drum-wise?

Contradictions Collapse (1991) and Destroy Erase Improve (1995) represent the two opening chapters of Tomas Haake's recorded career, separated by four years of development. Contradictions Collapse is more thrash-influenced, with Haake's technique still finding its voice — standard double pedal, conventional backbeat patterns, and the polyrhythmic displacement vocabulary in early form. Destroy Erase Improve shows the first full expression of his polyrhythmic language: a Mapex kit, Zildjian cymbals, and a rhythmic approach that was genuinely novel for 1995. The arc from CC to DEI shows the most rapid evolution in Haake's development, and DEI is where the Meshuggah sound that the djent movement would later draw from first fully emerged.

Did Tomas Haake use a double pedal on Contradictions Collapse?

Yes — on Contradictions Collapse (1991), Haake used a conventional connected double bass pedal, not the two-independent-single-pedal setup that defines his mature technique. His signature approach — two completely separate single pedals with no mechanical linkage between them — provides absolute foot independence essential for playing different rhythmic subdivisions with each foot. On Contradictions Collapse, the double pedal was entirely adequate: the album's thrash-influenced patterns didn't yet demand the absolute foot independence that Chaosphere (1998) and later albums would require. The transition to two single pedals is one of the key technical milestones in Haake's career development.