A sold out night in the capital, at the O2 Kentish Town Forum, set the scene for a highly anticipated evening with Animals As Leaders, especially after rescheduling the show from January earlier this year.
Support came from Swedish progressive metalcore newcomers Allt. Their down tuned heavy riffs gave the audience no rest, throwing breakdown after breakdown at the crowd. Allt’s set featured tracks such as “Paralyzed” and “The Seed” off their debut EP The Seed of Self-Destruction, as well new single “Emanate”. I was very impressed how technically tight the band were and can see them returning to the UK very soon!
The stage was minimally set for the three piece genre-defining progressive metal outfit, needless to say, everything flashy was to occur sonically. Animals As leaders kicked off with “Tooth and Claw” and “Wave of Babies” from their back catalogue, which had the crowd simultaneously in awe and moving about.
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As this was the Parrhesia album release tour, the bulk of Animals As Leaders’ set featured tracks off the new album. The main reoccurring motif “Conflict Cartography” hypnotised the crowd, whilst “Gordian Naught” aggressively woke us all up with drummer Matt Garstka’s emphatic grooves. A personal favourite of mine was “Gestaltzerfall” which seemed to crescendo throughout the track, with the crowd perfectly in sync with the energy levels of the music. Riffs from “Micro-Agression” featured an almost Latin feel to them and provided a prime example of the crazy technical abilities that Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes possess on the guitar.
After a few more new tracks, Tosin brought out the acoustic guitar for “The Brain Dance” off The Madness of Many. It was particularly impressive to see him switch between the acoustic guitar and his electric so seamlessly throughout the track. The penultimate track was fan favourite Physical Education, which had the crowd singing the main melody back at the band as if there were a vocalist on stage. Animals As Leaders ended with The Woven Web, a track that couldn’t better summarise the band’s abstract rhythmic compositions and crazy melodic passages.
As soon as Animals As Leaders let their last note ring on, chants for one more song took over the venue. It was then no surprise to see the band come out and reward the crowd with “CAFO”, taking us back to the very early days. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable and sonically exploratory experience for a Thursday evening!
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