Old Music Tuesdays: Animals As Leaders (@AnimalAsLeader)

Animals As Leaders is an instrumental progressive metal band created by Tosin Abasi (formerly of the superb metalcore band Reflux) in 2007. Abasi is one of, if not the most, skilled guitarists I’ve ever seen perform. He’s the son of Nigerian immigrants and largely self-taught. He mainly plays his own signature eight-string Ibanez, and he absolutely shreds it. I was introduced to the band on their tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan in 2010. I had no idea who they were, but by the time the opening song was halfway through, I was already in love. That doesn’t usually happen to me. Sometimes I’ll like an opening act, and will check them out at a later date, but rarely am I floored. The combination of technical prowess and passion was very impressive, and the wall of sound created was intoxicating.

The song that won me over is called Tempting Time, and I’ve embedded it here for your listening pleasure. It’s the first track off their first record, which you can purchase by clicking the Amazon link. I toyed with including my favorite track, Isolated Incidents, but I think it makes more sense to give new listeners the same introduction that I had to this amazing band. There are some live clips of this track on YouTube, but typically the sound quality is pretty poor and doesn’t do it justice. For that reason, I’ve included the studio version. I’ve also included my favorite track in this post. Why not? Tempting Time is a bit more metal and Isolated Incidents has more of a prog vibe to it. Which do you like better? Comments are always welcome.

Enjoy the music and buy the CD by clicking the Amazon link. Thanks for reading!

Lyrics

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