Tosin the founding guitarist of the band is possibly one of the best guitarists ever. Also yes this is the AAL drummer (they have had 2 others before, but this was the one that stuck). Tosin Abassi (formerly of Relfux) formed a band that was a 3 piece instrumentsal, hyper technical, somewhere between Jazz Fusion and Mathcore/Math metal with big scoops of funkyness, and groove at points The band started as a vehicle for Tosin but not the other 2 (Matt, and Javier who is the other guitarist) are almost as well known and just as respected as musicians. The guitars in this Band are 8 string so they have low Bass(5 string low) notes as well as the usual Midrange guitar register), although on Albums they do use bass tracks at points and have them on backing loops live if they need it. The whole band are monsters at what they do

Tooth and Claw drum reaction? Wow liking this channel 🍺🍺🍺🔥

Matt Garstka also has a drum video for “Ectogenesis” and AAL’s two recent singles if you’re looking for the newest material from him. He’s incredibly precise, constantly switching gears to varied syncopations and time signatures, an absolute beast. Great choice y’all!

Matt is the drummer for Animals As Leaders. I'd recommend you check out him with their song "Arithmophobia"

I want to see you guys react to Chris Turner - "40 Roll". Absolute machine double kicks with a little bit of hip hop mixed in

You should check out AAL's newest track, Gordian Naught. It's insane. And Matt recently posted a drum playthrough of it that's even more mind blowing.

Do more Garstka! The newer the video, the sicker he is… an absolute beast

If you like Animals as Leaders you should check out CHON... they opened for Animals as Leaders when CHON was still an opening act and Matt Garstka did drums on one of their more mellow songs. I'd suggest the songs "perfect pillow" or "splash" as an introduction to their earlier music.

Animals as Leaders is like brutal jazz. The first song that got me hooked was Physical Education

Nice to watch you enjoy AAL. Discovered your channel with your last Opeth and loving it! I'd love to see you react to Leprous, prog metal band from Norway (not that metal all the time tho, but always intricate) Maybe their drum playthroughs would be nice. I personally love their song Moon, which has incredible drum creativity (and skill ofc). but I guess you should begin with The Sky is Red (13 min long I think). This song is pretty deep and rounded, going to lots of places this band can go.

Yeh man this guy is phenomenal, so clean but also the energy, and how he shifts accents ,MAD!!

Fake Charles can stick around. Great input! As a drummer, I really appreciate both your perspectives here. BTW, Matt is AAL's drummer. Not the original though. You'd love Naveen Koperweis, the previous drummer.

He is indeed the drummer from the band

Love it been waiting for this one 🤘🎶🔥

Any video of an animals play through with this man is a CLINIC, bro. Also you mentioned your background in gospel chops: THATS HIS BACKGROUND TOO!!

2:52 such a beautiful polyrhythm. I can listen to Matt over & over and still not find all the intricacies & ghost notes he uses.

He's played just about every genre before, including gospel! He also only every does one-takes. Every song you hear with him, you're listening to a one-take performance (from the 3rd album on). Please keep the Animals as Leaders coming!

So sicc ☆☆☆ ☆☆

Between this and Death's 1000 Eyes, I gota toss this at you: Meshuggah - Bleed the footwork is incredible. Looking forward to your reaction if you can swing it.

Bro… somehow I ended that video sweating more then the drummer. That guy is legit.

PLEASE Do Viscera Eyes by The Mars Volta. Drums by Baltimore's own Jon Theodore.

Dude you need to revisit Matt's later video live playthroughs .. He is breaking the matrix with this cyborg stuff

You should do Luke Holland’s cover of Cinema. He’s a sick drummer showman.

I'd be interested to hear you do some muse reviews man ! Needs to be a live performance ! Peace !!!

Animals as Leaders are another level of musicianship 🤟🏼

While I totally respect Tosin, I think over time the reason I listen to Animals as leaders more and more actually is for Matt's drumming

Sweetsick right there..plse play "peppered cancer "🤘🏿🤘🏿🤘🏽🤘🏼🤘🏻🤘

There's a whole bunch of videos of Matt Garstka play throughs. You should watch some live versions of some songs since the band will vamp on a part and just let Matt go off. "Physical Education" is one where he goes nuts live. Maybe "Inner Assasins" too. He also did a project called GEM. You should check out the song "Vertigo" from that project....absolutely bonkers.

I recommend watching Sebastians Lanser doing Epilogue to Infinity - Obscura, if you'd like to discover more technical metal.

I'll throw out a recommendation for Anup Sastry of Monuments and solo fame, an amazing technical drummer but very emotional and not robotic like a lot of the technical types.

these guys rule. hes probably the best drummer out there . this dude from gorod is a sick drummer look uo K'roll - GOROD "The Mystic Triad of Artistry" (Drum Playthrough)

Check out oceans ate alaska, they have one of the best metal drummers

If you want to hear the sickest fill ever played, check out this twitch vid (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jrmVjLKQtpzYfYU.html) from Matt. Go to the 0:59 mark. Someone needs to break it down.

You have to see his playthrough of Red Miso.he doesn't even look the same

Trust me, EVERY drummer “glitches”! Been playing progressive jazz and metal for decades, and I sometimes completely just lose my mind!

you should react to something from Joey Jordison (Slipknot) he was an absolute beast R.I.P

So we have figured it out. He don’t care about the vocals, the lyrics, or any other instrument. You could put some of the best songs in front of him and he will look at it like it’s trash unless his instrument(the drums) is good in the song