Animals As Leaders - Weightless

11/8/11 Prosthetic Records

If you haven’t heard any Animals As Leaders yet, SHAME ON YOU. This progressive metal threesome is from Washington DC, with creator Tosin Abasi (formerly from Reflux) guitarist Javier Reyes, and drummer Navene Koperweis. They play 8 strings, they blow your mind, and they're a very unique and excellent band, end of story! Weightless is their Second album off Prosthetic since they formed on 08, and a much anticipated one at that.

Recurring words I found in my notes: Spastic, finger tapping, perfect, melodic, heavy, aggression, seizure, experimental, crunchy, emotions, talent.

The first track, "An Infinite Regression", is a finger tapping frenzy which leads into a melodic metal rendition that is parallel with the intro, they give you a slight break a few minutes in with just enough time to catch your breath before the rest of the album begins. "An Infinite Regression" keeps your head bobbing the whole way through, and I’m certain that the rest of the album will do exactly the same. They seem to be adding new elements to their writing with tracks "Odessa" and “Do Not Go Gently” but still have the same writing and sound that we know and love, and they display that in “Somnarium”, “Earth Departure”, (the most experimental and beautiful song on the album), “Cylindrical Sea”, and a few others. “Cylindrical Sea” displays all 3 of their talents and strong points, it stays with the premise of being crazy, yet sticking to a route and plan throughout. Towards the end, “Espera” hits, and for a short song it is packed with many emotions and moods, it’s executed perfectly and segues into “To Lead You To An Overwhelming Question”. This is one of those songs that you think to yourself “I want to see them play this live!”, and to me, it sums up the album as a whole. Then we get to the title track, which is pretty much AAL in a nutshell. If a friend were to ask, “What does Animals As Leaders sound like?”, I’d tell them to pop on track 11. Great recipe for a song, evokes every emotion possible, and a great way to lead out of an album and into the final track "David", a very mellow outro, saying goodbye to the listener, and if you weren’t a fan already, then you definitely are now.

“Weightless” is a great AAL album, and a great metal album. They’ve progressed since their first album, added some more techniques, while keeping the good old ones in here as well, a great sophomore album. Despite being instrumental, which is one of my favorite aspects, they evoke just as much and accomplish just as much as bands with multiple singers and members. AAL always leaves you wanting more, whether it’s the end of a riff, song, or album, we've all got the hunger. LISTEN TO ANIMALS AS LEADERS.