Lost in Vegas: "shout out to the bassist" Animals As Leaders: "bassist?"

Physical education would be the song you guys would enjoy by them, lots of groove, very catchy parts, hilarious music video

Tosin is definitely always in talks about the top 3 guitarist alive today for a reason. His jazz, metal, and even classical technique are all top notch. The harmonic supportive elements (progression, riffs, a mix of the two, or whatever it is) is always so interesting!

What I love about AAL is their music just sounds like a dystopian future filled with alien-like technology and incomprehensible happenings. The fact it sounds so un-musical is what makes it sound so cool.

If you guys wanna give them one more try you should definitely try "Physical Education" or "the Woven Web", the grooves throughout both of these are pretty straight forward but still very unique. As for other instrumental guitar bands, you guys NEED to check out Plini. "Electric Sunrise", "Pan", "Away", or "Flaneur" would be great starts. Plini's music is similar to the first mellow part of Red Miso, very melodic and beautifully composed. I think the overall groove and climactic sax solo on "Pan" especially will blow your socks off :)

The part that started at 1:43 is absolutely orgasmic. I don't even like this band and that part was just insane. I'd listen to that on repeat for hours. I understand why you feel that part lost you, but it's absolutely incredible. I do usually enjoy hearing a lot of notes at a time though. That part sounds like the best music I've heard all year. To me that's the grooviest part.

This song didn't catch me at first. Then one day, this song just wandered onto my song queue. That very moment y'all discussed somehow was what hooked me along with the solo afterwards. I can't speak for anyone else, but the gift and curse of the prog metal genre is that songs may not catch me the first or few times. But then something clicks and that suspense is resolved. Songs like this aren't for everyone, but sometimes it takes that moment you're waiting at that red light or taking a jog that the seemingly random chaos makes sense. As other's mentioned, Physical Education is fantastic and more palatable. As always, great content. I hope progressive metal continues to make appearances as it's fun to see y'all cover them.

I don't think there's any bass on this song. They play 8 string guitars so they can get that lower register, and they do a lot of thumping with their fingers too. The woven web is a lot groovier and less strenuous, y'all should check that out.

Animals As Leaders are absolutely amazing to see live! They are all easily some of the best at what they do

I appreciate your honesty. At least you recognize the sheer talent on display

I just saw these guys warm up for Dream Theater & they were incredible ..... Matt the drummer has become one of my favorites. By the time they left the stage, they had made a lot of fans that never heard of them before, me being one. If you enjoy the prog genre then they should be on your radar.

So glad they checked out Red Miso of all songs, major props!

It blows my mind that it blows people's minds that this loses people. Even as a music geek type, this kind of thing still feels like work. It's a class. I like so much about it though

What I think most musicians like about this album in particular is the rythms, if you love variations and feeling time in different ways this whole album is absolutely incredible, I don't think it's all skill with no context, it's just not easy to listen to

This literally made me log onto Amazon and order the CD. Epic, shredding bad assery. ❤

SHOUT OUT TO THEIR BASSIST! lmao quote of the year.

I think that the reason people would see this not really as a song is probably because it's all about counting in this song. When you're able to follow the counting of the song and notice how the instruments are meshing, then it really starts to sound like a song. At least that's how I see it. In prog I don't think there's such thing as a "time for" something, this is where you usually progress in the song, whether that be up, down, slow, fast, etc.

In my experience, AAL is a musician’s band. A lot of average listeners don’t like the technicality but musician’s have a different appreciation for it.

Lmaooo, I actually hadn't heard this song yet until now and I'm usually very into prog and such, but once 1:43 hit I was like "oh yeah they lost them here for sure"

I feel like taste in music and food makes a palatable analogy (pun intended). With food, you have folks that are happy with chicken tenders and mac n cheesefor their entire lives. They know what they want, and it's comforting, and they have no urge to venture outside of that. They're more prone to nostalgia than novelty. On the flip side, you have people that want to try every food they come across, because they're more prone to novelty than nostalgia. The majority of people exist somewhere in the middle between the two ends of the spectrum. Most people are capable of expanding their palate, but also for most, there is a limit to what they can stomach. Some people will never like blue cheese, regardless of how they try it. Some will never like fish sauce or hops or whatever else. It's good to know what you can't enjoy, but one must make sure that it's not their own expectations, positive or negative, that are causing the dislike, rather the pure experience. This type of music is a complex flavor, and maybe you'll like it paired with certain other flavors, but maybe you'll always dislike it, just try not to dislike it simply because it's not like the other things you like or because you expect music to be within a certain form. Appreciate y'all!

Animal as leaders are metal innovators. Decades from now, the metal community will still be talking about how they influenced a lot of metal movements.

Haha I figured you wouldn’t like the thall part (“Death Star battle” part) but that’s probably my favorite moment on the album. For some context on a fan’s perspective, many of us guitar players can basically predict the notes of any mainstream guitar solo or even metal riff at this point, but Tosin’s innovation on the instrument can make us question what we are hearing and it’s very fresh. Great reaction! At least they didn’t hit us with the “boom dickens” tag on the thump parts haha.

These guys have 2 guitarists and a drummer. That's it.

This song has HUGE groove! Flow with it instead of fighting the virtuosity. This track is astounding.

On Impulse is a super groovy song by them. Some are more grounded than others, this one doesn't have a lot of the chaotic elements others do.

thats why context is so important, i mean... shout out to the bassist 😂...

LEPROUS - The Sky Is Red. it’s time, dudes! Show 🇳🇴 some love❤️

Hey guys I know people will agree with me, Oliver Anthony. Rich Men North of Richmond. Big fan of you guys, always trying to get everyone I know to tune in to your reactions. I rewatch Pneuma’s reaction weekly haha. Thanks Ryan and George

I never expect you guys to like this kind of music but always like the reaction. You guys do respect the talent.

Kascade would be the best song to do next for them

Just for info guys, there is no bassist. Tosin and Javier play 8 string guitars, so the bassy parts are them chugging away on the low F# (or whatever they've tuned it to). The F# string is similar thickness to a D string on a bass guitar.

Animals as leaders is a band for musicians, not for the average listener I think what makes them so highly respected is that lens where as a musician or even as a form of art, the artist would think wow I would never have thought of that

For me, this is fun guitar music when you are bored of what you typically enjoy.

It's usually the way. 'Oh nice, I like jazz...' **Turns experiMental** '...Yeh, na'. It's not for everyone. It's barely for anyone.

A friend of mine used to love Animals As Leaders and I don't really recall many songs by them except for one called New Eden. It was still very progressive but much more melodic throughout, kinda like this one (at least so far). So that's another one that you guys may want to check out. Good tune, and thanks for the reaction. I didn't know they had released anything new. I'll have to check it out

They got it. It’s a song about development. They even said it was a musicians dream. This song progresses continuously. I do feel what they are saying about the “music class” perspective. Animals as Leaders know they are not for everyone. When it begins to surpass the casual Listener it begins to intrigue the musicians ear. Even when the sound can be jarring it is often very sexy/provocative or even upsetting. Hearing something that makes you recoil is also something that moves you.

The drummer on this track is so frickin good. I wonder how he would have interpreted CAFO if he had been the drummer back then. Animals as Leaders don't make my playlist either, though, even though I really enjoy progressive metal. Speaking of progressive metal, you should check out Wilderun!

The thing the stands apart for me about Animals As Leaders is how unique they are. They fact that the general listener may not instantly or passively like them indicates something very special. In fact, I have almost completely strayed from the mainstream for the reason that it is all just simply burned out. AAL provides food for my ears that no other band I have ever heard can do even remotely. I respect those who give AAL a shot, even if it's not their thing. To be clear, I am absolutely obsessed with AAL, and they are the most interesting musical form that I have ever discovered.

The most groovy song from them and also a great representative of a djent subgenre is called Wave of Babies

Yeah their bassist is insane...

AAL isn't normal music for normal people, it's for the aliens lol

The Woven Web should absolutely be your next song! More accessible than CAFO and arguably Red Miso but is still proggy enough to keep you on your toes 😂 It was also one of the best ones to hear live!

I can’t believe you haven’t reacted to Plini yet! He’s the super smooth, 10x more musical version of Animals as Leaders. Love it way more.

Look at a video from their drummer Matt Garstka at Meinl. They are incredible

12:28 Animals as Leaders doesn't have bass. They just have down tuned guitars with multiple extra strings on the low end.

The strange transition in the middle of Red Miso is a transition from futuristic jazz to more of a proggy djent sound. That’s what they are so good at and why I love them so much. It’s insanely complex and makes them so much better than bands like Dream Theater.

Yeah i do have to say you guys have had kind of a rough draw from AAL's catalog. They have super technical and varied stuff like CAFO that really are as much a flex as they are a song, and then they also have tons of songs that are so groovy that i think will be way more up your alley

Fatastic band and fantastic song. The soundcollage is very narrative and uses sounds, textures, rhytms and melodies to dream a dystopian fantasy. It reminds me a lot of Flying Lotus' works.

Tosin Abasi is a trailblazer of the guitar...one of my all time faves...this album is a smoke show...but definitely guitar nerd shit...challenging to listen to sometimes ...like most prog...I love it

I love when people say they have a good bass player 😂

12:24 hahahahaha!!😂😂😂

Please react to the legendary band, The Band. The most talented rock n roll, country rock, blues rock, rock-a-billy band of all time. This is evidenced by the fact that they had great influence on their contemporaries like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, The Beatles and many more. Further evidenced by the fact that Martin Scorsese made a movie of their "last" concert. True legends and an important part of American music. I promise you will be happy that you listened to The Band.

No bassist. They just use 8 string guitars.

With a lot of these songs it helps to look at it as classical music with distortion.

I can't wait til you guys come across Vildhjarta ❤

I really think you should check out Knocked Loose. I know for a fact you gonna HATE the vocals, and I wouldn't blame you. But they're the biggest thing happening in metal at the moment and i think theyre definitely worth reacting to.

This is Fusion..not Progressive...& yes it does generate intense emotions in certain listeners! Mostly people who are musically trained gravitate to this stuff, but all can love if you apply yourselves!

Man need to give this album a blast again, forgot how much I enjoyed it last year (appreciate it's not for everyone!). Wonder if the lost in Vegas guys enjoy jazz because there's definitely similarities between this type of progressive metal and jazz

Me I love these guys, they knock this shit out of the park in concert as well, but let's face it this is never going "mainstream" and that's ok there's nothing wrong with that.

I came to the board meeting to watch Animals As Leaders break dance 10000%

15:16 except it's the kind of thing you'd expect to hear when you launch an AAL song, so it IS the time, actually

Btw that 2009 album was written by Misha a gtr plyr. Until Navene and Matt performed on the kit!! WHOA!!

There is no front man/person required for such awesomeness...

brooooooo the expanse is my favorite show of all time! also this song slaps

I remember a Frank Zappa interview where he was talking about atonal and/or dissonant music and it's possible to develop a different way of listening. He said that listening to Edgar Varese was like entering a Viennese mathematical garden. I see it like a magic eye painting.

1:43 is one of my favourite riffs in this 😂 the smooth jazz solo was nice but when the riff comes in it slaps. Would be cool if these guys can appreciate to listen to the groove even though there’s complexity too

Masterpiece!!! Masterpiece!!

Personally, I don’t think I ever would have gotten into Meshuggah if I never made the effort to learn to play it on guitar. I’m not crazy enough to try to learn AAL, but it took some focused listening to get into them. I don’t want to say something as pretentious as it’s music for musicians, but being a musician certainly helps make it more than just a display of skill

Easier to digest is a good term to use when getting an ear for new new or technical music when you haven't beforehand

Thanks for being transparent, this is what separates you guys from all the other review channels.

I guarantee that if you guys listen to this mindfully with headphones on a couple times, you will begin to love the "weird" parts.

this album is my most listened to album of 2022

"Shoutout to the bassist" Didn't see that coming lmfao

It doesn't seem like they wrote this with te structure of a song in mind, it feels more like a song with a movie structure (act 1, act 2, and act 3). It's like they're telling a story using just instruments, where act 1 is a chilled and calming intro, act 2 is getting a chaotic, and act 3 is a kind of payoff. For some reason, combined with the video it reminds me of T69 Collapse by Aphex Twin.

Some people don’t have the musical IQ to completely understand what their listening to

Y'all should do Stray From The Path - Guillotine or III or both :) -- So good.

I know this is an older vid, and idk how much you check the youtube comments on older vids but if you do another song by them, choose On Impulse. Everytime i play that song around people who dont know who these guys are, they stop me and say "hey, who is this? This is awesome" everytime. And I have faith that that one will catch your ears positively

Cylindrical Sea, Earth Departure, New Eden, Physical Education, Para Mexer....

Watching the song lose you guys in real time is so funny to me

This band absolutely smokes. After Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded, at least we still have AAL to fry the circuit board.

Y'all said Tool/ Perfect Circle, and I had been thinking Sound Garden, NIN, Enter Sandman era Metalica..... Definitely a dark, grunge era sound at the beginning.

I feel like what I just listened to is the result of Dream Theater and a death metal band named “Nile” having a baby together…

Imo it's genius when shit gets chaotic and modulates to a more Melodic and ordely sound. Its roller coaster of emotions. Most people are too used to repetitive pop structures.

Animals as Leaders is advanced listening. No fun for the layman, this is music for musicians. I can't imagine what a normal person would think...

Progressive metal and prog in general can get a bit niche but I think it's less so now than before. More people know their way around or have heard enough music to be able to appreciate the skill level in bands like Dream Theater, Polyphia, Animals as Leaders and Meshuggah. That's why I think Djent is such a big scene with so many bands now. The audience got wider. I understand where you're coming from and there are plenty of people that have a hard time getting into stuff like this. It is more for music nerds and musicians. But for those that are into it, it's really incredible and mind-blowing how they play so well and are so precise.

I can't believe how different we are when listening to music and interpreted as "pleasant" For me personally, this song is a masterpiece 💯 Toy ears the song is an amazing mix of tranquility and chaos! Anyway, to each its own✌️

at 1:43 the song starts to be interesting for me hahahah This band is not a easy pick to listen.... But these 2 songs that you guys react, are not the best recommendation Physical Education Ka$cade Tooth and Claw These 3, are more "palatable" i think...

I can completely understand where you guys are coming from with your perspectives towards AAL. I think the main issue with prog especially when it comes to bands as technical as AAL is that there is no way to find a groove or approach a song in a first listen. You as the listener almost have to "learn" the song the same way the musician does, without actually playing the instrument of course, but that's still a hell of a lot more mental work that you have to do compared to 99.99% of all the other music out there. I myself really enjoy that experience and figuring out how to feel the song and having that ah-ha moment when you get it feels amazing to me, but its very understandable why this wouldn't reach everybody. You guys stated it perfectly that its just not something the vast majority of people are going to get into. Its for musicians and for nerds. Its surprising how many people can't see that perspective. I absolutely love this song and album but even then that's after years of training myself to listen to prog and having a mid level background in music and drums. This album wasn't an immediate hook for me at all. Had to listen to each song at least 5 times to kind of start to grasp it and I slowly grew into the album one song at a time over the course of an entire year. Now its my favorite AAL album and they have become one of my favorite bands. The only misconception bothersome to me is that the people who love this stuff only like it for the sheer musical ability alone. This album brings a ton of emotion to me. Technicality aside I genuinely find that it reaches me emotionally in ways that I can connect and confide in it just like I would any other music I enjoy. Its therapeutic almost. Of course, this also took time for me to develop due to some of the very issues you guys stated in the video. The wall of sound and overstimulation was a hurdle I had to climb over even as someone who enjoys technical music, so don't feel bad that its not for you! Great reaction and analyzation as always

As a fan of AAL, I totally agree with you guys. Up until 1:43 they had a melody, after that point they went mental. Experi-mental. ;) Not to get into technical details, they experimented with sounds, except Matt Garstka, who experimented with time signatures. But, yeah, it kinda stopped being musical...

There is no Bass in here, well, Yes, but they play with 8 Strings Guitars

I read once that one of the reasons we enjoy listening to music is that when our brain is able to predict the next thing heard we we get a little dopamine release. Using a more traditional song structure makes that easy. Bands like this make that difficult to do. My personal opinion is that the payoff to learning more progrssive music is higher (greater dopamine release) because it's more difficult to do. You may not like the song at first but if you put effort into it, it might turn into one of your favorite pieces of music. Although, why do that when there is other good music and you might like your older favorite pieces less after putting in the work lol. Honestly not my favorite peice of theirs. The Brain dance is pretty cool. Also, bands like this hit different live. Not sure why, it's not a technical show off thing (although that's part of it for sure). They are just better live, like headbanging to songs i don't like afterwards better. Side note... Do Plini. He's like the listenable version of this, and has some really great music.

For progressive metal, animals as leaders is considered iconic, but they are absolutely not a “gateway” band. The aren’t particularly melodic, play with exceedingly elaborate time signatures, and are generally more focused on pushing music to levels it hasn’t before. For more listenable, or (more appropriate) “melodic” progressive music, you have some great artists to look at. Plini in particular comes to mind, the person who got me into this music. His song Electric sunrise is just extremely good, doesn’t really push the aggression too hard, and shows the appeal of interesting time signatures. Other honorable mentions would be jakub zytecki, arch echo, owane, haken (Alphabet of me would be my only recommendation, as they kind of go nuts like AAL as well), and for an adjacent to prog artist polyphia would likely be a nice hybrid one to check out. This kind of music definitely takes acclimation to enjoy. Honestly the biggest part is being able to process the song more efficiently, whether it’s understanding time signatures, or just appreciating certain aspects like rhythm. The upside of this music is that repeat listens are rarely boring, since they are so intricate that you often find new things each time you listen, but in the case of animals as leaders it’s undeniably draining music to listen to for a while. You have to focus to enjoy it, and that’s after you’ve listened to a solid amount of the genre.

Expanse is the best Sci-Fi anything I've ever seen.

Follow the drum cymbals not the guitars in this style, and the 8 string guitars allow thier guitars to be bass and guitar at the same time so tosin and Javier are both the bassist and the guitarist

I come from a background of Indian Classical and Western Classical music, so this kind of music is very relatable for me. Also, there's no bass, only 8 string guitars.

You fellas should listen to the album Heavener By Invent Animate. Particulary the song Without A Whisper, the song was written for the guitarist grandmother who passed away. Its beautiful and well produced

Physical Education is a required listen from them, it's one of if not their most accessible songs for the average listener.

Shoutout to the bassist 😅

Always been an AAL fan since day one. It’s interesting to hear it through someone else’s ears.

Animals as Leader other guitarist Javier Reyes has his own band called 'Mestis' the track is 'Pure Vida' if you prefer more emphasis on groove, less proggy and crazy transitions this is absolutely positively worth checking out. Amazing band, amazing rhythms! Tosin Abasi is an incredible visionary, he is undeniably technical and proficient but doesn't get enough credit at times for his feel too. They all are so gifted as musicians, Reyes and Garstka too. Javier Reyes stuff I'd say is arguably even more feel based than AAL. 'Mestis' is more groovy, lush and a bit less dark than AAL.