Animals As Leaders – Weightless
Prosthetic Records 2011
Animals As Leaders are certainly at the vanguard of technical progressive rock these days. Few instrumental bands have made an impact as deep as they have in recent years and there is a good reason for that.
For you see it’s not only the mind boggling display of ability and technical prowess that makes Animals As Leaders such an engaging listen. Rather it is their charming knack for taking heroic moments of instrumental mastery and compressing them into an invitingly diverse auditory voyage.
Where numerous bands in their place often adhere to certain genres and chop them up accordingly; Animals As Leaders instead maintain an esoteric, almost otherworldly approach. Truly there’s a sense of higher intelligence to their music, but it comes without ego or pomp.
It’s an invigorating take and one that the group organically flesh out with immense shades of aural color and riveting highs and lows. The haunting textures and continual whir of activity they create are effortlessly stimulating; yet expressed with enough primal intent that you don’t have to have a Steve Vai picture on your wall to appreciate them.
Perhaps more so than ever though, this trio have struck the perfect balance between interesting song composition and exceptional playing. Whether it be a hyperdrive tapping session (think Between The Buried And Me‘s more interstellar moments) or a jazz fusion led breakdown, the breadth of the material continually unfolds at an engulfing pace.
The included occasional electronic manipulation and ambiance only helps to expand their craft further, ensuring that a wider range of listeners will be entertained. As with any instrumental outfit there is always the danger of appealing only to actual players themselves.
But with the bevy of tastefully distorted angular riffs and spacey chops showcased here; “Weightless” should certainly be able to endear itself to far more than just “Guitar World” subscribers.
- USER RATING
- ( 17 votes, 4.71 stars )
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COMMENTS
This one is less djenty than the last without Misha involved, but I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. For me, this is the album of the year.
Wtf is djent? I’ve heard it mentioned on this site before and im still waiting for an explanation. Please help.
the internet is your friend, bro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djent
Djent is a subgenre of metal that is defined by the “palm mute” technique defined by bands like(primarily) Meshuggah. Bands in this subgenre include Periphary and TesseracT.
It’s a garbage term’s what it is. Do yourself a favour and don’t ever use it.
Very good to hear, im sold! God, when wook likes something, there are few others in this world that can put the words together to aptly show it.
I like this band. Have not yet heard this one, but the self-titled felt like it lacked a singer, and that the reason they didn’t have a singer was because they didn’t find anyone up to the job (most metal singers aren’t), rather than it being an actual artistic choice.
Not true. Tosin has said that AAL is an instrumental band, but he would not be opposed to working with a vocalist on another project. Personally, I think their music is much too busy to have room for vocals and Tosin’s guitar work fills that space usually reserved for them nicely.
There is actually a version of “Behaving Badly” with vocals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baEuKEDw72E
oh god, never heard that w/ vocals before. I love it. I think they should use her about 50% of the time.
what I have heard on-line thus far is great. I will buy this soon!
I was a little ripped when I considered telling the truth about the new poll, and seeing how I’ve only been coming here 11 years..
And about how grateful I am that the administrator of theprp.com has been a devoted musical drug dealer..
And how much I truly appreciate the effort, consideration, and time..
And how countless quality and fun bands I’ve been introduced to & have wigged my existence out..
And how this might be the right time to say this, but..
Then I thought it was too fluffy, and listened to “Odessa”, track 2 of this album instead.
I like some Djent, it’s just not my style, this album is great! although my album of the year is Unto the Locust that albums DEFINES modern thrash, see! us kids still have some good bands( I know MH is from the 90′s but they made a bigger impact in the 00′s, like pantera in the 90′s)
Let’s talk nothing about this album and just huff off Machine Head in this review, nice work kid.
Love this album through and through. Can’t stop listening to it. The electronic music elements that piece the rhythms together in the intros, etc. are so fresh. Finally, another respectable band from DC!!!!!
This album is solid! With all of the excellent riffage, there’s not need for a vocalist.
I swear to god I’m going to pistol-whip the next guy who says “djent.”
djent
djent djedda djedda djent djent…ohhh i get it now! thats stupid…cant we just call it metal?
I don’t understand the backlash against the use of “djent.” Because so many people are using the term now, I’m supposed to stop because it’s not cool anymore? That’s lame. When you listen to a lot of metal, you need to start finding ways to describe how it’s different from other metal. Like it or not, most people understand what you mean when you say it and it’s quick. You could say something like, “AAL’s first album incorporates a lot of syncopated chugging in order to create poly-rhythms much like Messhugah.” Or you could just say, “AAL’s first album has some djent.”
“anymore?” It was cool?
Despite this being the clearest and most logical explanation and defense of the term…ahem… DJENT… it don’t mean I have to like it, whippersnapper! *Grampa Simpson voice*
I think what bugs me is the fact that a genre name is based on the vocal imitation of the guitar sound. I just find it stupid. It’d be like calling thrash metal “nedla-nedla-nedla-nedla-nedla-na-na-na-na-na” metal.
As stupid as it may be, I don’t think it’s getting changed any time soon. Whether or not you continue to fight the good fight against calling djent “djent” is up to you, but I think there’s probably more people like me who don’t feel strongly enough for or against the term to get behind a movement. Besides, I haven’t heard anyone come up with something different to call it.
I gave the record 4 stars and positively love it.
That being said, did anyone else find this album relatively average compared to their self titled? I mean, it’s still leaps and bounds above most of the other records I bought this year, but I think it lacks the energy (or something. I haven’t been able to quite figure out what’s different) of the first one. I nearly drove off the fuckin road numerous times listening to self-titled whereas Weightless has the same technical prowess without the arrangement or passion. It’s almost like they’re the same records, but Weightless is the B-Sides.
I think the songs sound less meaty than on the first record, that’s for sure. That probably has a lot to do with the increased input of Javier and the lack of Micha’s. Javier seems to favor harmonizing and playing away from the low-end of the 8 string frequently, while Micha wrote a lot of stuff for the first record emphasizing the low-end almost exclusively.
I wouldn’t say the album is worse, just different. There’s less contrast and the songs are more “airy,” which might have been intentional since the album is called Weightless.
Awesome album been playing it several times the last few days. As for the new term “djent” metal it is stupid always looked at this style of music to be classified in the tech/math/prog metal catagory ie: Meshuggah, AAL, BTBAM, Coalesce, The Dillinger escape plan, Opeth etc… do we really need another lame label for metal music?
I think this sums up djent perfectly…
In response to a question Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe stated
There is no such thing as “djent,” it’s not a genre.
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