Animals as Leaders - Animals as Leaders (2009)

This is one of the first djent records I heard since its sudden growth in popularity in the last year or so. It’s the solo project of ex-Reflux guitarist Tosin Abasi, and it is still one of the most technical but smooth djent records around.

The record is entirely instrumental. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though: There is a lot of very talented bands out there who are brought down by a weak vocal performance, and in the case of this album, it would be a struggle to find vocals to match the ability and feel of the music. This certainly isn’t, however, a boring record, which all instrumentals run the risk of being. The guitar-work and sound is varied and never plain, and so it remains engaging throughout. Both guitarists play on 8 strings, so there’s certainly never a shortage of notes available. It also allows a real depth: There is a mix of the heavier power chording and the intricate solo work a lot of which is only possible with the additional strings, giving this album a fairly unique sound: To most guitarists, 7 strings seems a ridiculous amount, but 8? Sadly almost unheard of to my knowledge.

Tosin may be a touch modest – he initially refused to do this album because he thought it ‘egotistical’ – but his talent is certainly starting to get noticed, even if he refuses to accept it himself. Personally I think he’s one of the most skilled and original guitarists in the world at the moment. If you think yourself to be a good guitarist, go and learn some of the material on this record and you’ll find out why. Not only is their great technicality, but the music flows in a progressive and melodic way that is incredibly listenable, and definitively likable. And Tosin makes it all sound so easy.

The now famous Misha Mansoor worked on some of the production of this album, and you can certainly tell. However, luckily, this is not a clone of his production on the seemingly millions of djent records that are spilling out as a result of Periphery: Tosin seemed keen to maintain his own sound. This is very fortunate, because it separates Animals as Leaders from the pack, and this needs to be separate, because it’s something special. I am anxious to hear any new material from Tosin: definitely one of the guitarists of the future; Petrucci eat your heart out.


8/10



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1. Tempting Time
2. Soraya
3. Thoroughly at Home
4. On Impulse
5. Tessitura
6. Behaving Badly
7. The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothng
8. Cafo
9. Inamorata
10. Point to Point
11. Modern Meat
12. Song of Solomon

Nociceptor - Among Insects (2011)

For me this is one of the best albums to have sprung out of the new djent scene so far. It has aggressiveness and energy, but maintains progressiveness and melody.

It seems to be a bit of a mix between Periphery, undermorphine, Devin Townsend and of course Threat Signal (This is their side project). It maintains the now distinctive djent sound that’s becoming so popular on the scene recently, so pretty much every fan of other djent bands will be able to enjoy Nociceptor. However, Among Insects is a fair bit heavier than a lot of the new djent. There is still some clean vocals but significantly less than seen elsewhere, and it’s a lot less of an integral part of the sound, more just in the background for atmosphere. This means that people who’ve been complaining that djent is full of scene kid screamo singers can appreciate it too.

The thing that stands out to me about this album is how engaging it is. However ‘innovative’ the new djent movement is, I find it to have a tendency to become a little repetitive and even boring when, for example, you have a 72 minute Periphery album to slog through. Among Insects has a lot more pace, and it seems to me a lot less obsessed with technicality and more just on making good sounding music (the two aren’t mutually exclusive obviously, but technicality does sometimes tend to hinder the overall sound. Anyone can play fast if they practise, but it takes a master to play well).

The only real flashy guitar solo on the record is on the very last song ‘Angus Mcgillicuddy’, however I don’t see it in this case to be such a bad thing for a djent record to just have one definitive solo on it. I think longer solos on other songs would have actually detracted from the record, unless they could be pulled off with incredible weaving ability to fit with the song seamlessly.

My favourite track off the record is the somewhat curiously named ‘Pornoholocaust’. It showcases the relentless pass of the album, while having in my opinion the best clean section and the best scream section on the album. The afore mentioned ‘Agnus Mcgillicuddy’ is also worth mentioning as the most progressive song on the record.



7/10


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1. Intro
2. The Fell
3. Emergence
4. Botfly
5. Mollusk
6. Pornoholocaust
7. Cuntagion
8. Angus McGillicuddy