Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders (2009)

Artist: Animals as Leaders
Album: Animals as Leaders
Date Released: April 28, 2009
Genre: Experimental/Progressive/Instrumental

Album Review:

I have always been a fan of groups like Meshuggah, Scale the Summit, Periphery, and such "DJENT" music. This album, however, took me by surprise and blew me away. As the full-time project of Tosin Abasi, former guitarist for the band Reflux, the music is impressive on several levels. The complexity of the music and its ability to delve into some really deep, bassy riffs and emerge again with lofty and celestial licks shows how diverse Abasi can be with utilizing his 7 string bass and electric.

There's a song for everyone on this record, and I mean that in a good way. I don't think I can properly stress the diversity of this album. It is truly avant-garde, and I can only hope that this is the future of metal.

*DISCLAIMER* No your ears aren't broken, and you're listening to the right songs. There are NO VOCALS on the album, just like Periphery's instrumental release (though that was semi-purposeful, as their old singer left to pursue pop song writing...yuck).

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Song-by-song:

Tempting Time: With a really spacey, glitchy intro, the listener is greeted with not only a good presentation of Abasi's skills as a bassist/guitarist, but is an aggressive and fitting intro track.

Soraya: Bridging the gap between ambient and metal, this song is on the lighter side, and kind of resembles something Satriani would do. Definitely original though.

Thoroughly at Home: Very DJENTey, this song will please Meshuggah fans, carrying a deep sound and using unconventional timing for the time signature.

On Impulse: Another lofty, light song, with very talented soloing and tapping throughout.

Tessitura: This word is translated as "texture", and it refers to the vocal range of a singer, usually in opera. The song climbs, almost like practicing scales.

Behaving Badly: Starting out with a xylophone and synth, one already knows that mischevious behavior is occurring here. The song explodes as it goes in, and though it's taken a while, this track has grown on me.

The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing: The title of this song made me smile, and so did the song, almost conveying without words the essence and emptiness of things, as it crescendos and then diminishes.

CAFO: My favorite track. Very heavy and in your face, and also has some of the most intricate tapping on a guitar i've ever heard. Tosin Abasi, you are a beast.

Inamorita: The beat and intro to this song is very catchy. The subtle background noises add to the song as well, though it's a bit long for me to savor it, passing the 6 minute mark.

Point to Point: A soft, clean interlude, or so I thought...the distorted 7 string kicks in and leads into another short song...

Modern Meat: No idea what this title is referring to, but this song is nice and low-fi. It has a very jazzy sound to it.

Song of Solomon: Unfortunately, despite the diversity, i'm feeling a little bored at this point (maybe because i've listened to this album 5 times in a row?). But this song shakes that out. The synth output on Abasi's awesome custom RG, the song has a very neat sound to it. Good ending track, I must say.