ANIMALS AS LEADERS: Parrhesia (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

In Greek, parrhesia is the expression of a free and frank speech. By titling their fifth album "Parrhesia", the intention of Animals As Leaders is clear: to demonstrate that an entirely instrumental music remains the ultimate space of freedom for musicians to give free rein to their musical discourse. Six years after "The Madness Of Many", which pushed back the limits of jazz djent experimentation of a band that never hid to compose music first and foremost for musicians, Animals As Leaders comes back to a more direct music, more metal, but not less complex for all that.

The Americans called upon Misha Mansoor from Periphery for the mastering of this new opus, as it was the case for their first three albums. And in fact, the sound of "Parrhesia" is closer to that of "The Joy Of Motion" than to "The Madness Of Many" which was entirely self-produced. The guitars are here globally more saturated, even if the gain remains moderate not to harm the clarity of the musical speech. A discourse that will not fail, as usual, to leave admiration to the fans and to leave aside most of the listeners who are hermetic to the technique.

From a technical point of view, "Parrhesia" is without a doubt the best of what is done today in terms of virtuosity. Animals As Leaders shows once again the extent of its know-how in terms of guitaristic prowess and hypnotic polyrhythms ('Monomyth', 'Micro-Aggressions'). And even if Tosin Abasi remains forever the undisputed master of the 8-string guitar, with his fluidity worthy of Allan Holdsworth ('The Problem Of Other Minds'), it is once again the pair Javier Reyes/Matt Garstka that impresses the most. Their rhythmic complementarity is so stunning that tracks like 'Gestaltzerfall' or 'Red Miso' are to be placed in the Pantheon of musical excellence.

But beyond the outstanding technique of the American trio, which clearly has nothing more to prove in the matter, "Parrhesia" also impresses by its refined melodic research, by the intelligence of its compositions and by the conciseness of its purpose, the band being perfectly aware that its demanding music can only be appreciated through a short and compact album.

With "Parrhesia", Animals As Leaders pushes again the limits of its unbridled creativity and delivers to us at the same time the most accomplished album of its discography and a new summit of the progressive djent genre. - Official website

ANIMALS AS LEADERS

PARRHESIA

AUTRE LABEL

PROGRESSIVE METAL