Love AaL but damn I wish people suggesting them for reactions would pick slightly more 'normal' stuff to start reactors with, then let them ride down the rabbit hole. Physical Education. And yes, something showing them playing live.
Thank you fucking God for saying this. Prog fans, i love prog, but they can be so damn elitist and robotic. Zomg do the 23 minute epic first, then your next reaction needs to be this song but first listen to the prologue two albums ago or else you won't feel the full impact of the reprisal..and..and How about just give a damn song that's concise and you can feel, THEN deep dive.
If the first AaL song I heard had been Physical Education, I wouldn't have been interested to hear more. It also wouldn't give you a good idea what to expect from them when diving deeper. I think there's value to giving someone the flavor of a band's good stuff. If they like it, great. If they don't, at least they know what the band is all about. I agree that The Brain Dance would be a great starting point though.
I feel like you would really dig Plini. His music is fantastic and has that really upbeat feel that you liked in the dirty loops video. “Electric Sunrise” is a great song by him. Hope to see a video of any of his songs really in the near future. Great vids, keep it up!
Javier played bass for this album, the previous album had Nolly and Misha from Periphery playing bass, Tosin played bass on Weightless and the first album. Live they play with a bass backing track.
@@paravarium The aesthetic is similar because it's _off the same album_. Noting that two tracks "sound the same" just because they follow the same lines from being on the same record is the most pea-brained remark I've heard all week. Both tracks sound immensely different.
Lol, they threw you into the deep end, even by AAL standards. Something like Air Chrysalis, Crescent, or Odessa would show off their melodic capabilities.
No nested tuplets. It's all about syncopation (mostly 16th notes) and completely throwing "1" out the window. I own the drum transcript for this, and practiced it for a good 4 months to be able to play the whole song at 75%speed 😅
The Woven Web is an absolute classic and it is different but I'd actually recommend The Brain Dance next to change it up quite a bit and show an even more jazzy side of theirs.
I'd suggest Tooth and Claw or Kaskade. Tosin is all around an incredible player. Very smooth tasteful melodic phrasing, and that man can shred while the musicality is never lost. Matt is an incredible drummer. One of my favs. I'd suggest looking into them more. Little power trio with no bass player or vocalist. It's all complex instrumental music.
@@gaborkrausz5402 Because he isn't as good as Tosin Abasi, but it's very hard to be as good as Tosin Abasi. Sorry I didn't mention him in my praise. I like a lot of the clean stuff he comes up with and his classical background. He's very expressive with his instrument, but Tosin has that and the insane technical ability. I haven't seen another guitarist who uses literally every tool in the book and then some in such a musical way. Pair that with one of today's top prog metal drummers Matt Garstka? Sorry son, but not everyone can be a star player.
@@gaborkrausz5402 I would suggest not feeling sorry for him. He is in a kickass band, and he is surrounded by kickass people. If he wants to make a name for himself he is much better equipped than you or I. That's up to him if that's something he truly cares about. It's a kind sentiment, but not one I'd concern myself with.
That section that you thought was a fermata was actually a metric modulation. The guitar in the background plays triplets in 4/4 at original tempo for the first 2 repetitions, then 16ths in 3/4 at the new slower tempo.
That song wasnt the best first song to listen to honestly, it was their song that they made trying to scare people with all their crazy time signatures hence the name (fear of numbers)
So, now I will specifically request you listen to Tempting Time, On Impulse, Apeirophobia, and Lippincott. On Impulse has some really interesting counterpoint, and I just love the compositional structures and emotive elements in these pieces. Tempting Time, as the first song on the first album, is quite a way of musically saying "hey, check me out". I also would suggest you check out the video performances, because it will help your brain process everything, especially for a first listen, haha. I will also have to recommend you check out Tigran Hamasyan if you aren't already familiar.
Car bomb is a good band but how on earth is it in the middle of Meshuggah and Animals ahah more like in the middle of Nothing (the album) and Chaosphere ;)
Man, when you started getting into how chaos makes it hard to convey sorrow, I really felt that. I know exactly what you're talking about and you broke it down in a cool way. Very cool to hear a from a different angle.
Oh yeah, AAL. Music for the sake of music. Not for everyone but definitely some amazing things. They tend to draw from many styles (as you mentioned the bebob-y segment). Enjoyed the review. Thanks for the video! Peace.
I still have to think of these styles more as "tracks" than "songs". If this was playing as a randomized track for me, I would just phase it out into background noise. I am a musician, so it's not that I don't understand what's going on. Your comparison to bebop jazz nailed it for me. One minute of that and I tune right out.
Glad to see you do an AAL reaction. I'd highly recommend doing another on a different song to experience their range in styles... or just listen on your own. - 3 members... two 8-string guitarists and a drummer... no vocals (though they might have some on their next album). - Much of their music is very different from between tracks, though all of it has that syncopated polyrhythm style... like Kascade, Inner Assassins, Brain Dance, or Lippincott. - The drummer, Matt Garstka, has videos of him playing to their tracks... which are very fun to watch. Though it's drum focused, thus the drums are a bit louder than the rest of the music, it really helps show a lot of the intricacies of his playing that you might not catch just listening. - There is a music video for Physical Education, which is a great song, but it's a bit goofy.
You should listen to CAFO by them, all their discography its just magic tbh XD PD: AAL are just 2 8-string guitar players and a drummer, in their albums they use some synth bass thought
To answer your question at the end of the song, this band only writes instrumental tracks. If you revisit them in the future I would recommend songs like Cafo, Physical Education or Wave of Babies
Animals as Leaders is one of the best bands I have ever seen live, several times by the way. They absolutely destroy, and stay so insanely tight the whole time. Highly recommend seeing them!
This is one i was waiting for. After finding them first they quickly worked their way up to be one of my favourite bands :D Saw them live last august and they are just insanely talented. Arithmophobia as the name suggests is one of the most rhythmic tracks. Woven Web or Brain Dance are a bit more mellow and CAFO or Wave of Babies are more shreddy. It's definitely a versatile band and it's worth checking more of them out :) EDIT: Also Tosin the lead guitarist is a good friend of Misha Mansoor of Periphery ;) And he was an Herman Li's (Dragonforce) Twitch stream 2 times. There he talked about his technique and some aspects of his playing :D
My wife bought tickets to see a show for a certain band as a second choice to seeing dance Gavin dance because DGD was playing a show with “some band but they didn’t have a singer, but I can’t remember their name.” Her reaction when I asked if it was animals as leaders was priceless. Mainly because she could tell I was butthurt
Great video! If you ever come back to AAL I suggest you do Brain Dance. I feel it's the perfect example of the evolution of their band and honestly I think their best composition. Also take note much of their guitar playing is done without guitar picks. They use a hybridization of classical guitar and slap bass techniques.
I really want to see what you think of the song Lippincott by this band. It's just composed so, so well, and it has the most beautiful, sweeping melodies. Both jazzy and supremely badass music are entwined seamlessly. You will love it.
You hit the nail on the head with AAL using story telling in their music. I will go to my grave swearing that their second album "Weightless" is an instrumental story from beginning to end of the album, like an even more Prog, instrumental, version of Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory. Awesome first take on AAL. I hope you get recommended some more of their music. While Arithmophobia is one of my favorite songs by them, I also love Lipincott, Behaving Badly (my first song I heard from them), the Brain Dance, Weightless (I think you'd really love Weightless, Odessa might be a little chaotic). The Woven Web takes its time by letting things play out in more measures like you're looking for. I think you'd really like that one, and Physical Education.
For something that shifts around a bit less than this and has polyrhythms that you can actually follow, I'd highly recommend CAFO by these guys. Or going back to their heavier days, Tempting Time.
None of their songs have lyrics as far as I have heard. And they have some really melodic and almost normal songs, heavy with the polymeters, but they aren't this chaotic usually. Honestly anything from the Weightless album and most of The Joy of Motion. Somnarium, and Do Not Go Gently from Weightless are awesome songs. Or Air Chrysalis, and Physical Education from "The joy of Motion" are also some tracks to check out. Tobin Abasi, who is the lead guitar player has done some pretty eclectic and even ground breaking guitar work. Atleast to me he's done some tricks I'd never heard before.
I don't know if anyone has already mentioned it but you would really dig Vildjharta and Tesseract. You talked at length about the ability of rhythm vs melody to create and evoke emotions and they're two of the best (metal) bands to successfully use both. Vildjharta's newest song, "Den Helige Anden", and Tesseract's "Of Mind: Nocturne"
Animals as Leaders and Polyphia are my biggest motivators to pick up my guitar and practice everyday. I owe so much of my development to them. I love these people so much.
I think that it's less about it being so complex to memorise and play, than it is that this kind of thing (complex, intricately timed music) tends to come to those who compose it, naturally. Personally, I am not a virtuosic guitarist by any means, but I have a certain way of writing my riffs/songs on guitar where it is entirely consumable and relatively easy to understand, though I have such a feel for the odd signature and beat counts - In my case, they're usually in odd timings/signatures...but it just happens that way...I don't plan it as such - that in my head, the counts and feel of duration of bars etc. it makes absolute organic sense, but even to some of my drummer friends, they invariable scratch their heads and take quite a few times to get the patterns. They do, though. Eventually get the patterns. I felt the exact same way when I first heard Meshuggah and AAL. But after a few repeated listens, you start to notice the patterns. With Meshuggah especially, it helps to always listen to the hi-hat/crash and snare strikes on the drums. They are the great levellers in terms of the underlining signature in most of their songs. That also helps when you feel like head-banging to Meshuggah. :P
So, it's just that other folks who don't live in your head and speak your natural off-time musical language just have to do some work to figure out what you're doing and where the patterns occur. Like when you're getting to know a new girlfriend. You need to spend time with her to understand her.
I totally get that. All too often I'll pat out a rhythm using my hands and think "yeah, I'm digging that" but then I go to put it in sheet music and I cannot find a good time signature for it. It's wild that it sounds so natural *to me* but it's actually some sort of polyrhythm going on that gives it a standard feeling without being in standard time.
I started my Animals as Leaders experience by hearing Para Mexer. Their music is deeply complex and can take time to appreciate. Diving into it head first would understandably be quite intense. I'd highly recommend Para Mexer. After that I heard The Woven Web. I think I eased into it pretty well thanks to those fantastic songs.
Unprocessed (the band). I've only recently gotten into them but they're almost on par with Periphery for me. The song "Haven" isn't as popular as "Abandoned", "Ghilin", or "Fear", but it's a personal favorite.
Saw their rhythm guitarist, Javier, play with his solo project Mestis supporting Plini. Man you should check out Plini. He's more of a composer than a musician and he's an unbelievable musician as well so I think that stands for something lol. Kind, Sunhead, Electric Sunrise, Pastures, Handmade Cities... Hes got so many great songs.
Listen "on impulse" from AaL it's definitely another aspect of their music, the solo albums of Javier Reyes (one of the members of the band) are outstanding too but in a total different way.
As a bass player, you definitely should have a look at The Omnific, 2 basses and 1 drummer. Kismet is the song that made me discover them. Also, Objet de vertu and Proem are good songs too!
Hey Bryan, I appreciate your criticism of the Meshuggah-style hard, driving, staccato-heavy type metal as not being as easy to appreciate upon an early listen or be able to hear a story being told like in a more melodic type that AaL does so masterfully well. If it's of interest to you I hope you'll continue to dive into bands like the former because the more you do the more I think you'll begin to appreciate just how much story-telling indeed does happen in what sounds like chaos upon first listen. The vocals, turned into an instrument, take on a new value as the lyrics, unintelligible at first require a deep dive as well, begging the question of why they were placed where they were since they sound the same with each growl. Overall, for me it just goes without thinking that if I can be be moved to tears by Meshuggah as well as AaL that any music done well and understood fully can hit us.
Thank you for this. I had to go back and check this timestamp out and I laughed so loud. I don't even recall doing it but now I want to gif it just to have a loop of it :)
I think something like On Impulse or Another Year would be a bit more appealing to you, maybe Private Visions of the World. It's a lot more lead centered. I think Animals as Leaders generally demonstrates their overall mastery of composition in every aspect across entire albums. Every song will have a slightly different flavor to it. All of it is very masterfully executed though.
Can we just talk about the fact that he listened to the whole track without realizing there was no vocal? In a world of repetitive, sing songy, music is only a backing track wailing, AAL is a beacon of hope for music.
Shadow Hunter by Angra Brazilian power metal band with Iron Maiden vibes and classical music influences. I feel like you would have an interesting take because of your composer experience.
I could never understand their stuff that was this technical. Parts of it are nice sure, when they use the melody to establish repetition and you get a semblance of a rhythm. But for most of the song I'm lost to the constantly shifting beats. I like their more "straightfoward" (only changes time signatures like 15 times) djent stuff.
As Ben stated, fermata and ritardando. A fermata is when a note is held longer than it is supposed to be with the length of time played being up to the musician or the director/conductor. A ritardando is a slowing down of the tempo without an actual tempo change.
It's almost all 4/4 but personally I have a much easier time picking out the patterns out of the chaos when I break it up into more odd times. The intro while 4/4 I personally count as 13/16.
"Its still really intricate timework going on in the drums and... bass...?" *This man's mind is going to be blown when he finds out what an 8 string guitar is.*
Another amazing instrumental band you should definitely react to is Intervals. Do Sweet Tooth or if you're feeling crazy then do Fable for a delicious saxophone solo.
I have to say im skeptical this guy has never heard AAL before... Sure the rap kid, or the girl at the club has never heard of them, but anyone who seriously plays/studies music, particularly guitar/bass/drums or has an interest in metal has got to have heard AAL in the last 11 years since they exploded? They pretty much pioneered djent, polyrhythmic metal, 8 string guitar and noone ever shuts up talking about them. Tosin has been topping polls for a decade, they haver toured and collab'ed with almost every major metal/prog band. How can you realistically miss them? Getting vibes of the time everyone in the YT music react scene tried to pretend they never heard Bohemian Rhapsody.... th-cam.com/video/AEG_h2xB3g0/w-d-xo.html
No vocals. no bass PLAYER. full on instrumental.so much love for this band 1)Soraya 2)Cylindrical Sea 3)Para Mexer 4)Ectogenesis ...if you get the chance check these out
Fermata and ritardando. A fermata is when a note is held longer than it is supposed to be with the length of time played being up to the musician or the director/conductor. A ritardando is a slowing down of the tempo without an actual tempo change. Both tend to return to the original tempo but one is for a single note while the other can be used to slow down however long of a section that a composer wants.
Helps to have a jazz drummer and 2 of the most insane guitar players in the biz. No bass player in site. Those 8 string guitars doing all the work. I'd definitely check out Tooth and Claw, much more straight forward in terms of song structure but with their own spin. No vocals either, let the instruments do the talking.
For myself, Animals As Leaders is technical past the point of being enjoyable. I do like technical bands but there needs to be more than odd time signatures. It's nice to be able to mix complexity into standard songwriting rather than relying on it completely. Animals As Leaders is one of many overly technical bands, and as good as they are at their instruments, I just can't get into it. I did listen to their first album when it came out because I was an edgy teenager, but stuff like that didn't last in the long run.
TheRealMikeShea I just listened to the music you made when you were an edgy teenager. I made music at 14 too. My old TH-cam wasn’t great (definitely not anywhere close to where my heroes are) I’m just saying I know how it is teaching yourself to express feelings through music at a young age, and seeing all these crazy good musicians with a music education and everything, and it’s easy to feel jealous. It could even get to the point of dismissing beautifully expressed songs because if their songs are acknowledged as good, then people might not appreciate your songs. But that isn’t true. Personally, I’ve been listening to AAL, Emery, and Third Eye Blind (about to learn to play and sing “I Want You”, brilliant song) in the same day. So I’m saying it’s okay to enjoy stuff you can’t physically play, there will always be a huge spectrum of simple to complex music, and both ends and everything in between that conveys someone’s authenticity will be enjoyed in the long run.
@@roblosh8417 Ah yes, the awful music on my channel that I've considered hiding multiple times. I've been releasing much better music on the LADDERLAD Music channel since 2015. Even that channel is dead now as I'm rebranding again. I don't think it's jealousy. I do wish that I could put in the effort to be able to play some crazy stuff but it's not their skill level that turns me off. Protest the Hero is one of my favourite bands and I can barely play one song of theirs. Them and many other bands are way above my skill level. I don't compare myself to others as much as I used to, I know my strengths and weaknesses. For me, it really is just a matter of focusing too much on being technical and the music suffers because of it. Tons of modern bands have poor songwriting in my mind. Polyphia is another one of those bands for me. Their sound is very recognizable and their riffs are cool and they're great players, but the end of the song, I'm not left with a feeling of satisfaction or resolution. Their song G.O.A.T. sounds like a 3 and a half minute intro. It doesn't develop far enough to tell a story. Animals as Leaders are incredible musicians but I don't get any value out of listening to them. :\
If you prefer Animals as Leaders' melodic approach to Meshuggah, you would probably really like Tesseract. They are the masters of putting melodic guitars and vocals over Meshuggahesque rhythms. Check out their song Concealing Fate Part 2 - Deception. th-cam.com/video/qki712bg84w/w-d-xo.html Personally, I prefer Meshuggah. They can get melodic sometimes, like the last half of Straws Pulled at Random. They can also musically tell a story, like on their concept album Catch 33.
I reacted to Of Matter by Tesseract and absolutely loved it. I was blown away by their ability to interweave minute details into their composition. The video was unfortunately blocked though. Here is the Google Drive link to watch the reaction: drive.google.com/file/d/1dpfKCRJFIevdQUoRTJfVDsDRTBsWX6nq/view
Why is Matt Gartska reacting to his own music?
LOL
lmaoo
@@mere_illusion what are you doing here ??
@@y2kparth trying to trick people
@@mere_illusion aaaaa okayy
Love AaL but damn I wish people suggesting them for reactions would pick slightly more 'normal' stuff to start reactors with, then let them ride down the rabbit hole. Physical Education. And yes, something showing them playing live.
Thank you fucking God for saying this. Prog fans, i love prog, but they can be so damn elitist and robotic. Zomg do the 23 minute epic first, then your next reaction needs to be this song but first listen to the prologue two albums ago or else you won't feel the full impact of the reprisal..and..and
How about just give a damn song that's concise and you can feel, THEN deep dive.
The Brain Dance
The brain dance or apeirophobia
If the first AaL song I heard had been Physical Education, I wouldn't have been interested to hear more. It also wouldn't give you a good idea what to expect from them when diving deeper. I think there's value to giving someone the flavor of a band's good stuff. If they like it, great. If they don't, at least they know what the band is all about. I agree that The Brain Dance would be a great starting point though.
ANIMALS AS LEADERS MUST WATCH LIVE
TOOTH AND CLAW (LIVE)
KASCADE (LIVE)
BRAIN DANCE (LIVE)
ECTOGENESIS (LIVE)
I feel like you would really dig Plini. His music is fantastic and has that really upbeat feel that you liked in the dirty loops video. “Electric Sunrise” is a great song by him. Hope to see a video of any of his songs really in the near future. Great vids, keep it up!
Silenium forest would be awesome as well.
It would be sick if he listened to Ko Ki
Tarred And Feathered
DO THIS
@@Isaiah_McIntosh Selenium forest is a masterpiece.
They dont have a bass player. Its a trio, 2 8 string guitars and a drummer 🤘
I laughed when he said bassist
They do put synthesized sub bass on there though
Javier played bass for this album, the previous album had Nolly and Misha from Periphery playing bass, Tosin played bass on Weightless and the first album. Live they play with a bass backing track.
@@Trisket Although the bass lines just match the guitar work to thicken up the low end rather than acting as a separate instrument
They should do a collaboration with Omnific. 😄
I enjoy listening to AaL, but watching them masterfully play their instruments with unconventional techniques is just awe inspiring.
and Tosin changing guitar for the 6th time in 40 minutes
You would love "The Brain Dance" especially the live version it's much more melodic than this song
On Impulse is a personal favourite as well
@@laundrysauceNL much better suggestion. Why reccomend essentially the same sounding material twice in a row 🤔
@@paravarium Are you implying that Arithmophobia sounds the same as The Brain Dance?
Not a carbon copy, but certainly not far as a departure sonically as a number of other examples would be.
@@paravarium The aesthetic is similar because it's _off the same album_. Noting that two tracks "sound the same" just because they follow the same lines from being on the same record is the most pea-brained remark I've heard all week. Both tracks sound immensely different.
Lol, they threw you into the deep end, even by AAL standards. Something like Air Chrysalis, Crescent, or Odessa would show off their melodic capabilities.
Maybe even something like "The Future That Awaited Me". Such a beautiful song!
That's another really good one. The Price of Everything is good as well.
Another Year could make it too, love that track
Para Mexer too
best part is this song is entirely in 4/4, it's all nested tuplets
Dr. Phillager this song is not entirely in 4/4 it s got some bars in 9 and in 7 but you are right, for the most part is odd groupings in 4/4
No nested tuplets. It's all about syncopation (mostly 16th notes) and completely throwing "1" out the window. I own the drum transcript for this, and practiced it for a good 4 months to be able to play the whole song at 75%speed 😅
Nested tuplets or nah, this ain't your mom's 4/4
@@AMcCann1178 lol Originally when Matt sent these patterns to the guys, he titled it "Weird Shit in 4/4"
Tosin has mentioned beebop as an influence before! You’re spot on, sir.
A bit outside of the usual wheelhouse, but Heilung - Krigsgaldr (live) would be an interesting one to react to
I second this, I absolutely love Heilung and I think Bryan would have some interesting takes on their style.
Definitely second this, Krigsgaldr make some wild stuff, I'd love to hear Bryan's take on music that's outside of the Popular/Classical divide.
The Woven Web is an absolute classic and it is different but I'd actually recommend The Brain Dance next to change it up quite a bit and show an even more jazzy side of theirs.
The Woven Web is my favorite! That's what introduced me to them
Animals as Leaders - The Brain Dance. PLEASE PLEASE
Yes, it's a masterpiece. Lots more to analyze, and maybe a little easier to analyze
I'd suggest Tooth and Claw or Kaskade. Tosin is all around an incredible player. Very smooth tasteful melodic phrasing, and that man can shred while the musicality is never lost. Matt is an incredible drummer. One of my favs. I'd suggest looking into them more. Little power trio with no bass player or vocalist. It's all complex instrumental music.
Poor Javier Rejes is very underrated! He always gets overshadowed by the other two!
@@gaborkrausz5402 Because he isn't as good as Tosin Abasi, but it's very hard to be as good as Tosin Abasi. Sorry I didn't mention him in my praise. I like a lot of the clean stuff he comes up with and his classical background. He's very expressive with his instrument, but Tosin has that and the insane technical ability. I haven't seen another guitarist who uses literally every tool in the book and then some in such a musical way. Pair that with one of today's top prog metal drummers Matt Garstka? Sorry son, but not everyone can be a star player.
@@TheSamuraiApocalypse i know these facts i just feel sorry for him
@@gaborkrausz5402 I would suggest not feeling sorry for him. He is in a kickass band, and he is surrounded by kickass people. If he wants to make a name for himself he is much better equipped than you or I. That's up to him if that's something he truly cares about. It's a kind sentiment, but not one I'd concern myself with.
@@TheSamuraiApocalypse very wise choice of words!
The more you listen, the less chaotic it gets, and the more the emotion emerges. This music takes a lot of time to pay off as a listener.
That section that you thought was a fermata was actually a metric modulation. The guitar in the background plays triplets in 4/4 at original tempo for the first 2 repetitions, then 16ths in 3/4 at the new slower tempo.
That song wasnt the best first song to listen to honestly, it was their song that they made trying to scare people with all their crazy time signatures hence the name (fear of numbers)
So, now I will specifically request you listen to Tempting Time, On Impulse, Apeirophobia, and Lippincott. On Impulse has some really interesting counterpoint, and I just love the compositional structures and emotive elements in these pieces. Tempting Time, as the first song on the first album, is quite a way of musically saying "hey, check me out". I also would suggest you check out the video performances, because it will help your brain process everything, especially for a first listen, haha.
I will also have to recommend you check out Tigran Hamasyan if you aren't already familiar.
Also, to be honest, I would say that to a song, you could just pull a random one of AAL (or Tigran) out of a hat and it would be excellence.
Apeirophobia strikes a huge note on me, it makes me feel uneasy. I love that one
Nice choices
You gotta listen to Car Bomb, meets in the middle of Meshuggah and Animals As Leaders
Love Car Bomb. So heavy and insane timings.
Car bomb is a good band but how on earth is it in the middle of Meshuggah and Animals ahah more like in the middle of Nothing (the album) and Chaosphere ;)
@@blastusburger806 I think of them more as between Meshuggah and Wormrot.
Man, when you started getting into how chaos makes it hard to convey sorrow, I really felt that. I know exactly what you're talking about and you broke it down in a cool way. Very cool to hear a from a different angle.
Oh yeah, AAL. Music for the sake of music. Not for everyone but definitely some amazing things. They tend to draw from many styles (as you mentioned the bebob-y segment). Enjoyed the review. Thanks for the video!
Peace.
Native Construct - Mute...do it! I bet you'll love it
Absolutely the fuck yes. Native Construct is 10/10
I still have to think of these styles more as "tracks" than "songs". If this was playing as a randomized track for me, I would just phase it out into background noise. I am a musician, so it's not that I don't understand what's going on. Your comparison to bebop jazz nailed it for me. One minute of that and I tune right out.
It's definitely something that requires the right mood, just like bebop.
Glad to see you do an AAL reaction. I'd highly recommend doing another on a different song to experience their range in styles... or just listen on your own.
- 3 members... two 8-string guitarists and a drummer... no vocals (though they might have some on their next album).
- Much of their music is very different from between tracks, though all of it has that syncopated polyrhythm style... like Kascade, Inner Assassins, Brain Dance, or Lippincott.
- The drummer, Matt Garstka, has videos of him playing to their tracks... which are very fun to watch. Though it's drum focused, thus the drums are a bit louder than the rest of the music, it really helps show a lot of the intricacies of his playing that you might not catch just listening.
- There is a music video for Physical Education, which is a great song, but it's a bit goofy.
You should listen to CAFO by them, all their discography its just magic tbh XD
PD: AAL are just 2 8-string guitar players and a drummer, in their albums they use some synth bass thought
This is the reaction I've been waiting for!!! Great stuff!
You should check out The Ocean "Permian The Great Dying", or really any song by The Ocean.
Or any song yeah, but I second Permian the great dying. It's a masterpiece :)
YASSS!!! almost forgot that band... Gonna check them again
I was obsessed with that song for a while
@@davidramirezrodriguez3373 Phanerozoic I is incredible, I'm hyped for part II
To answer your question at the end of the song, this band only writes instrumental tracks. If you revisit them in the future I would recommend songs like Cafo, Physical Education or Wave of Babies
Animals as Leaders is one of the best bands I have ever seen live, several times by the way. They absolutely destroy, and stay so insanely tight the whole time. Highly recommend seeing them!
If you were looking for a more conventionally structured song from AaL, review CAFO.
Also, The Brain Dance is a must listen. It's a gorgeous track.
This is one i was waiting for. After finding them first they quickly worked their way up to be one of my favourite bands :D Saw them live last august and they are just insanely talented.
Arithmophobia as the name suggests is one of the most rhythmic tracks. Woven Web or Brain Dance are a bit more mellow and CAFO or Wave of Babies are more shreddy.
It's definitely a versatile band and it's worth checking more of them out :)
EDIT: Also Tosin the lead guitarist is a good friend of Misha Mansoor of Periphery ;) And he was an Herman Li's (Dragonforce) Twitch stream 2 times. There he talked about his technique and some aspects of his playing :D
That little web of amazing guitarists is crazy. Just imagine if they all entered the same room!
My wife bought tickets to see a show for a certain band as a second choice to seeing dance Gavin dance because DGD was playing a show with “some band but they didn’t have a singer, but I can’t remember their name.” Her reaction when I asked if it was animals as leaders was priceless. Mainly because she could tell I was butthurt
Great video! If you ever come back to AAL I suggest you do Brain Dance. I feel it's the perfect example of the evolution of their band and honestly I think their best composition. Also take note much of their guitar playing is done without guitar picks. They use a hybridization of classical guitar and slap bass techniques.
I really want to see what you think of the song Lippincott by this band. It's just composed so, so well, and it has the most beautiful, sweeping melodies. Both jazzy and supremely badass music are entwined seamlessly. You will love it.
You hit the nail on the head with AAL using story telling in their music. I will go to my grave swearing that their second album "Weightless" is an instrumental story from beginning to end of the album, like an even more Prog, instrumental, version of Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory.
Awesome first take on AAL. I hope you get recommended some more of their music. While Arithmophobia is one of my favorite songs by them, I also love Lipincott, Behaving Badly (my first song I heard from them), the Brain Dance, Weightless (I think you'd really love Weightless, Odessa might be a little chaotic). The Woven Web takes its time by letting things play out in more measures like you're looking for. I think you'd really like that one, and Physical Education.
For something that shifts around a bit less than this and has polyrhythms that you can actually follow, I'd highly recommend CAFO by these guys. Or going back to their heavier days, Tempting Time.
None of their songs have lyrics as far as I have heard. And they have some really melodic and almost normal songs, heavy with the polymeters, but they aren't this chaotic usually. Honestly anything from the Weightless album and most of The Joy of Motion. Somnarium, and Do Not Go Gently from Weightless are awesome songs. Or Air Chrysalis, and Physical Education from "The joy of Motion" are also some tracks to check out. Tobin Abasi, who is the lead guitar player has done some pretty eclectic and even ground breaking guitar work. Atleast to me he's done some tricks I'd never heard before.
Animals as Leaders refers to an idea from the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Highly recommend giving it a read!
Native construct please. Come hell or high water is a must, also Chromatic Aberration. Both incredible songs by Native Contruct
I don't know if anyone has already mentioned it but you would really dig Vildjharta and Tesseract. You talked at length about the ability of rhythm vs melody to create and evoke emotions and they're two of the best (metal) bands to successfully use both. Vildjharta's newest song, "Den Helige Anden", and Tesseract's "Of Mind: Nocturne"
One of my favourite songs of all time. Thanks for noticing the slowdown in that riff!
Animals as Leaders and Polyphia are my biggest motivators to pick up my guitar and practice everyday. I owe so much of my development to them. I love these people so much.
I think that it's less about it being so complex to memorise and play, than it is that this kind of thing (complex, intricately timed music) tends to come to those who compose it, naturally. Personally, I am not a virtuosic guitarist by any means, but I have a certain way of writing my riffs/songs on guitar where it is entirely consumable and relatively easy to understand, though I have such a feel for the odd signature and beat counts - In my case, they're usually in odd timings/signatures...but it just happens that way...I don't plan it as such - that in my head, the counts and feel of duration of bars etc. it makes absolute organic sense, but even to some of my drummer friends, they invariable scratch their heads and take quite a few times to get the patterns. They do, though. Eventually get the patterns.
I felt the exact same way when I first heard Meshuggah and AAL. But after a few repeated listens, you start to notice the patterns. With Meshuggah especially, it helps to always listen to the hi-hat/crash and snare strikes on the drums. They are the great levellers in terms of the underlining signature in most of their songs. That also helps when you feel like head-banging to Meshuggah. :P
So, it's just that other folks who don't live in your head and speak your natural off-time musical language just have to do some work to figure out what you're doing and where the patterns occur. Like when you're getting to know a new girlfriend. You need to spend time with her to understand her.
I totally get that. All too often I'll pat out a rhythm using my hands and think "yeah, I'm digging that" but then I go to put it in sheet music and I cannot find a good time signature for it. It's wild that it sounds so natural *to me* but it's actually some sort of polyrhythm going on that gives it a standard feeling without being in standard time.
Animal As Leaders is great if you want to do more songs from them I would suggest - Physical Education, Wave of Babies, The Woven Web, or Brain Dance.
Unless you do a live version u won't realise how inspiring and amazing they are.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of protest the hero songs. Love your channel man
For a different feel from Meshuggah, I would recommend Straw Pulled at Random.
Sir I am happy to tell you that there is no bass guitar in Animals As Leaders. This is a 3 piece band 2 guitars and drums
I started my Animals as Leaders experience by hearing Para Mexer. Their music is deeply complex and can take time to appreciate. Diving into it head first would understandably be quite intense. I'd highly recommend Para Mexer. After that I heard The Woven Web. I think I eased into it pretty well thanks to those fantastic songs.
Listen to the Meshuggah song "Straws Pulled At Random"
That song has some of that melancholic feel you're looking for.
AAL nice! Hey new Jinjer video dropped last week called Retrospection, I know you'll definitely enjoy that one!
They are all instrumental. I would recommend "The Brain Dance" or "Para Mexer" to see another side of their work.
I would second that. Especially Brain Dance because they also have a great video from the dunlop sessions
Yup, sometime there is a jazzy feel at this song, and for the fact Matt gartska is former jazz drummer
The band dont have a bassist playing live but in the records they have the bass guitar recorded !!
Unprocessed (the band). I've only recently gotten into them but they're almost on par with Periphery for me. The song "Haven" isn't as popular as "Abandoned", "Ghilin", or "Fear", but it's a personal favorite.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Spawn of Possession - Apparition. Keep up the good work, really enjoying your videos!
Saw their rhythm guitarist, Javier, play with his solo project Mestis supporting Plini.
Man you should check out Plini. He's more of a composer than a musician and he's an unbelievable musician as well so I think that stands for something lol.
Kind, Sunhead, Electric Sunrise, Pastures, Handmade Cities... Hes got so many great songs.
Mestis was sick, too. Javier is bad ass.
A nice thing is that the drums are 100% natural with no samples, and 95% unedited. So impressive, especially for this kind of genre of music.
You should check out videos on Tosin Abasi’s guitar techniques.... he is simply out of this world
Listen "on impulse" from AaL it's definitely another aspect of their music, the solo albums of Javier Reyes (one of the members of the band) are outstanding too but in a total different way.
As a bass player, you definitely should have a look at The Omnific, 2 basses and 1 drummer. Kismet is the song that made me discover them. Also, Objet de vertu and Proem are good songs too!
"Private Visions of the World" is a highlight track from this album.
Dimmu Borgir.... any song from Forces of the North Night tour when the had a full symphony and choir
Hell yeah!
Maybe too much of a curveball for this channel but I'd love to see your thoughts on Krallice's song "Dimensional Bleedthrough"
Yes! It's nice to see I'm not the only one who likes them 😂
Krallice are so underrated it hurts, they sound like no one else despite using recognizable elements
Hey Bryan, I appreciate your criticism of the Meshuggah-style hard, driving, staccato-heavy type metal as not being as easy to appreciate upon an early listen or be able to hear a story being told like in a more melodic type that AaL does so masterfully well. If it's of interest to you I hope you'll continue to dive into bands like the former because the more you do the more I think you'll begin to appreciate just how much story-telling indeed does happen in what sounds like chaos upon first listen. The vocals, turned into an instrument, take on a new value as the lyrics, unintelligible at first require a deep dive as well, begging the question of why they were placed where they were since they sound the same with each growl. Overall, for me it just goes without thinking that if I can be be moved to tears by Meshuggah as well as AaL that any music done well and understood fully can hit us.
VOLA - Whaler (official lyric video)
It's been said down below and also in the screenshot you put up at the beginning, but definitely check out Plini. Seriously beautiful prog metal
The growing confusion culminating into the soft '... heh?' around 3:33 is beautiful to watch
Thank you for this. I had to go back and check this timestamp out and I laughed so loud. I don't even recall doing it but now I want to gif it just to have a loop of it :)
I recommend The Omnific, a band with a drummer and 2 Bassist, same music genre/direction of Music as AAL
I think something like On Impulse or Another Year would be a bit more appealing to you, maybe Private Visions of the World. It's a lot more lead centered. I think Animals as Leaders generally demonstrates their overall mastery of composition in every aspect across entire albums. Every song will have a slightly different flavor to it. All of it is very masterfully executed though.
Can we just talk about the fact that he listened to the whole track without realizing there was no vocal? In a world of repetitive, sing songy, music is only a backing track wailing, AAL is a beacon of hope for music.
Shadow Hunter by Angra
Brazilian power metal band with Iron Maiden vibes and classical music influences. I feel like you would have an interesting take because of your composer experience.
"how do people even count this" song is called arithmophobia what a gem
I could never understand their stuff that was this technical. Parts of it are nice sure, when they use the melody to establish repetition and you get a semblance of a rhythm. But for most of the song I'm lost to the constantly shifting beats. I like their more "straightfoward" (only changes time signatures like 15 times) djent stuff.
What's the term you used at about 4:30?
Keith Saavedra fermata and ritardando.
As Ben stated, fermata and ritardando. A fermata is when a note is held longer than it is supposed to be with the length of time played being up to the musician or the director/conductor. A ritardando is a slowing down of the tempo without an actual tempo change.
Please do Between the Buried and Me - White Walls, Fossil Genera, or Lay Your Ghosts to Rest ::))
Fossil Genera is one of my favorites. Sweet candy populous, a worry free entrance into the worlds history.
Someone should mention that listening to them is one experience and then watching Tosin playing is another one
It's almost all 4/4 but personally I have a much easier time picking out the patterns out of the chaos when I break it up into more odd times. The intro while 4/4 I personally count as 13/16.
"Its still really intricate timework going on in the drums and... bass...?"
*This man's mind is going to be blown when he finds out what an 8 string guitar is.*
Another amazing instrumental band you should definitely react to is Intervals. Do Sweet Tooth or if you're feeling crazy then do Fable for a delicious saxophone solo.
lol what bass?
Fairly sure all low registers are from the 8 string guitars - no bass - Tosin’s skill set includes incredible ability to slap the guitar
btw there is no bass in this band. the guitarist "Tosin Abasi" uses a 8 string guitar
I have to say im skeptical this guy has never heard AAL before...
Sure the rap kid, or the girl at the club has never heard of them, but anyone who seriously plays/studies music, particularly guitar/bass/drums or has an interest in metal has got to have heard AAL in the last 11 years since they exploded?
They pretty much pioneered djent, polyrhythmic metal, 8 string guitar and noone ever shuts up talking about them.
Tosin has been topping polls for a decade, they haver toured and collab'ed with almost every major metal/prog band.
How can you realistically miss them?
Getting vibes of the time everyone in the YT music react scene tried to pretend they never heard Bohemian Rhapsody....
th-cam.com/video/AEG_h2xB3g0/w-d-xo.html
Try reacting to CAFO next. It’s one of their most popular songs and it’s very upbeat
Another insightful and interesting reaction. You're def the best reactor I've watched.
You should check out Xenobiotic - Saphris!
loved it dude!
That drum beat sounds like something from virgil donati, quiet place. Pretty close but not exact.
No vocals. no bass PLAYER. full on instrumental.so much love for this band
1)Soraya 2)Cylindrical Sea 3)Para Mexer 4)Ectogenesis
...if you get the chance check these out
Check out SIEGE'S EVEN "Life Cycle" album (1988, Germany) - the roots of prog metal
This was not the first song you should hear to get into them, they got more melodical and other type songs.
What's the difference between a formada and a retardando?
I hope I spelled those right lol..
Fermata and ritardando. A fermata is when a note is held longer than it is supposed to be with the length of time played being up to the musician or the director/conductor. A ritardando is a slowing down of the tempo without an actual tempo change. Both tend to return to the original tempo but one is for a single note while the other can be used to slow down however long of a section that a composer wants.
@@CriticalReactions very interesting, thank you. I really appreciate these reaction videos from people like you who have something extra to offer.
Helps to have a jazz drummer and 2 of the most insane guitar players in the biz. No bass player in site. Those 8 string guitars doing all the work. I'd definitely check out Tooth and Claw, much more straight forward in terms of song structure but with their own spin. No vocals either, let the instruments do the talking.
For myself, Animals As Leaders is technical past the point of being enjoyable. I do like technical bands but there needs to be more than odd time signatures. It's nice to be able to mix complexity into standard songwriting rather than relying on it completely. Animals As Leaders is one of many overly technical bands, and as good as they are at their instruments, I just can't get into it. I did listen to their first album when it came out because I was an edgy teenager, but stuff like that didn't last in the long run.
TheRealMikeShea I just listened to the music you made when you were an edgy teenager. I made music at 14 too. My old TH-cam wasn’t great (definitely not anywhere close to where my heroes are) I’m just saying I know how it is teaching yourself to express feelings through music at a young age, and seeing all these crazy good musicians with a music education and everything, and it’s easy to feel jealous. It could even get to the point of dismissing beautifully expressed songs because if their songs are acknowledged as good, then people might not appreciate your songs. But that isn’t true. Personally, I’ve been listening to AAL, Emery, and Third Eye Blind (about to learn to play and sing “I Want You”, brilliant song) in the same day. So I’m saying it’s okay to enjoy stuff you can’t physically play, there will always be a huge spectrum of simple to complex music, and both ends and everything in between that conveys someone’s authenticity will be enjoyed in the long run.
@@roblosh8417 Ah yes, the awful music on my channel that I've considered hiding multiple times. I've been releasing much better music on the LADDERLAD Music channel since 2015. Even that channel is dead now as I'm rebranding again. I don't think it's jealousy. I do wish that I could put in the effort to be able to play some crazy stuff but it's not their skill level that turns me off. Protest the Hero is one of my favourite bands and I can barely play one song of theirs. Them and many other bands are way above my skill level. I don't compare myself to others as much as I used to, I know my strengths and weaknesses. For me, it really is just a matter of focusing too much on being technical and the music suffers because of it. Tons of modern bands have poor songwriting in my mind. Polyphia is another one of those bands for me. Their sound is very recognizable and their riffs are cool and they're great players, but the end of the song, I'm not left with a feeling of satisfaction or resolution. Their song G.O.A.T. sounds like a 3 and a half minute intro. It doesn't develop far enough to tell a story. Animals as Leaders are incredible musicians but I don't get any value out of listening to them. :\
you know nothing john snow, there´s no bass!, nice reaction
If you prefer Animals as Leaders' melodic approach to Meshuggah, you would probably really like Tesseract. They are the masters of putting melodic guitars and vocals over Meshuggahesque rhythms. Check out their song Concealing Fate Part 2 - Deception. th-cam.com/video/qki712bg84w/w-d-xo.html
Personally, I prefer Meshuggah. They can get melodic sometimes, like the last half of Straws Pulled at Random. They can also musically tell a story, like on their concept album Catch 33.
I reacted to Of Matter by Tesseract and absolutely loved it. I was blown away by their ability to interweave minute details into their composition. The video was unfortunately blocked though. Here is the Google Drive link to watch the reaction: drive.google.com/file/d/1dpfKCRJFIevdQUoRTJfVDsDRTBsWX6nq/view
You should really react to Animals As Leaders Matt Garstka - Ectogenesis Drum playtrough it's pretty amazing seeing him play ,
You should check out Alter Bridge - Blackbird or This Side of Fate.
The funny thing is, there is no bass. They play at 12 string and a 10 string
Do a video on the band Dillinger escape plan
IS THAT A TRIM I SEE THERE SOMEWHERE?
React to Plini, Selenium Forest EP, brilliant stuff