obZen

It came out on March 7 in Europe and March 11 in North America, was originally slated for November 2007, and the long recording meant dropping out of a European tour with the Dillinger Escape Plan. Haake used the Drumkit From Hell as an auxiliary sound source rather than programming the drums as on Catch Thirtythree, and it was the first album on which Lovgren played bass. Haake told Gravemusic they spent about six months tracking and mixing, with 25 to 30 mixes, in the band's own studio, which doubles as rehearsal space and office. He called the album almost a sample platter of everything they had done, and explained the title as mankind finding its zen in the obscure and obscene. Joachim Luetke made the cover, a bloody figure in lotus position with three arms.

It reached 59 on the Billboard 200 with 11,384 copies in its first week, and 16 in Sweden. Metacritic scores it 83, AllMusic's Thom Jurek gave 4 of 5 and called it sheer attack metal, and Decibel's Nick Terry called it a new reference point for charting their evolution. It was nominated for a Grammis in hard rock, which went to In Flames. A remastered 15th-anniversary edition came out on March 31, 2023.