Animals As Leaders - Weightless

Think Shawn Lane playing with The Dixie Dregs and you may start to appreciate the sweet progmetal coming out of this outfit.If you're a fan of the podcast, you're probably aware of my penchant for instrumental guitar in its myriad forms. From Andy McKee to Steve Vai, I'm just a sucker for great music that stands on its own without the need for vocals or a songwriter's esoteric, lyrical musings. I also have the tendency to be drawn to the more technical stuff like Watchtower, Cynic or Spastic Ink. The strange thing is that while I am drawn to the promise of ultimate musical satisfaction (incredible talent coupled with beautiful melodicism), the two rarely go hand in hand (cough*Meshuggah*cough). This is where Animals As Leaders (AAL) comes in.

I'd only recently heard about the prodigious talent of guitarist Tosin Abasi when Ragman suggested I review AAL's latest CD, Weightless [Prosthetic Records], and what a revelation this group is. Call them instrumental progressive metal, djent, or whatever, but their music is as melodic as it is complex and that's what a lot of the so-called technical metal bands seem to forget; it's not about sheer technicality for the sake of it - you have to actually make listenable music as well. Say what you will about pop music, but the reason it's popular is the pleasing harmony of melodies that stick in your head long after those vacuous songsters have aged and gotten real jobs like the rest of us. The heart of the band is Tosin's incredible guitar playing. Armed with his custom made 8-string guitars, the self-taught, Washington, DC native is a bonafide monster with many notable influences, and there's a distinct (and welcome) Shawn Lane flavor to this latest smorgasbord of instrumental complexity. Let's hope there's more to come from this band. I'm especially looking forward to a forthcoming live DVD shot in Atlanta last July.

The Bottom Line: If you're into a heavy version of The Dixie Dregs meets Shawn Lane, you might want to check out Weightless. There's some controversy surrounding the legitimacy of the "djent" subgenre, but if the name applies to bands that sound like Animals As Leaders, I'm all for it!

Standout Tracks: Isolated Incidents, Cylindrical Sea

- Genghis isn't even looking in his guitar's direction, oh no...