Glad to see Animals as Leaders here! My first experience was seeing them open for Between the Buried and Me. I had never heard of them and assumed they were a small local band…when they started to play I was absolutely blown away!

5. Weightless 4. The Joy of Motion 3. Parrhesia 2. self-titled 1. The Madness of Many

Thanks for the shout out George. I haven't felt the temerity to do this ranking but I will say that I love Joy of Motion the best at this point. That might change doing a full catalog comparison but I love it because they were branching out. Still blown away by these guys and glad you and Pete are taking them on. Cheers - MJ PS - Saw them live in 2017(?) and had my internal organs rearranged a bit. You gotta love a band that's doing complicated instrumental music AND there's a mosh pit.

My personal list: 1) The Madness of Many 2) The Joy of Motion 3) Parrhesia 4) Animals as Leaders 5) Weightless Definitely agree, there is not a bad album and really not even a bad song on this catalogue.

Same as Pete, have never really listened to Animals as Leaders. Going to have to dig in

Looking forward to this episode. Here is my ranking: 1st - The Joy of Motion (2014) 2nd - Weightless (2011) 3rd - S/T (2009) 4th - Parrhesia (2022) 5th - The Madness of Many (2016)

Thank you Pete and George 👍😎 i really discovered them when i saw Generation Axe tour and was amazed by Tosins playing and I just saw him on the Treme sonic tour with dream theater in Devin Townsend and he was amazing again really really amazing player. I don't have all the albums, but I have a lot of songs that I like.

New to me. Good job George & Pete! Heard The Madness of Many. So cool that there's bands still trailblazing. For me evoked distant and even more distant cousins like Flea of RHCP, Mars Volta, Yes' Siberian Khatru (Private Visions of the World) and Soundgarden's 4th of July on Backpfeifengesicht.

In this Modern Instrumental Prog Metal realm Animals as Leaders are top 5. Though, for me, the slightly stripped down treatment of SCOREDATURA (with an 'E') puts them at the top. The stripped down model is more infectious and less overwhelming, though they definitely show their chops as well as compositional prowess. Two albums and two singles, and I love every one of them. I'm going to revisit 'Animals' today. Good show... keeping up with the present and future is essential to me, and I'm 62 yrs old.

Like I’ve said before, anytime GEORGE has his “ 🎵 musical 🐾 paws involved in the ranking of albums , it’s quite near Impossible. Rumor has it , it’s easier to pass the bar exam. Here it is 6:38pm Saturday night, and after listening to these 5️⃣ albums , a minimum of 6x each, still can’t get a solid in stone ranking. Thx a lot GEORGE, I’m going back to more listens. See it all in AM 👍💯

Parrhesia is a timeless masterpiece. I know Tosin usually get's the praise, and many say they sound "lifeless", but for me, the band member that brings Parrhesia to anothel level is Gartska. The guy's compositional and technique skill is awe-inspiring. Javier get's a lot of respect for his melodic ability, as well.

LIstened to some from each album before this episode and have to say that this is going to take some time. As said, this is not background music but I did find most of what I heard worth coming back to for more listens. Thanks, George and Pete, for taking the time to immerse yourself in the catalogue for this ranking show. Much appreciated.

I had never really heard their music either, but saw them open up for Devin Townsend and Dream Theater a few weeks ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed their set.

George is right. Another producer and some guests would add another element. I wouldn't go with a violinist, but a guest keyboardist or bassist would add more to the complex shades. Preferably the musician guest on the whole album, not just a single track. Keep it instrumental.

Possibly the greatest band of the past 15 years for me, as essential as it gets for fans of ambitious and forward thinking music. Madmen composers and players 1. Parrhesia 2. Debut 3. Weightless 4. Joy of Motion 5. Madness of Many

Informative overview of seminal sounding band. The 2022 album will feature on my albums for this year as only recently heard it. Not the sort of thing you could whistle but intriguing, challenging yet engaging music from a bunch of talented musicians.

Met Tosin at Petrucci's Guitar Universe. Wonderful guy. Broke down some technique but I also loved his discussions on artistry and making music.

I caught the tour with Devin Townsend and Dream Theater recently (first time seeing all three bands). I'm not super familiar with AAL's discography so can't give a proper ranking myself, but man what an incredible show.

So good to see you ranking AAL! I can't rank their albums - whichever one I'm listening to is the best :)

AAL is My favorit metal band - mindblowing stuff. Really groundbreaking. My list. 1: The Joy of motion 2: Parrhesia 3: Madness of many 4: Weightless 5: S/T A note I love the solo at the end on "Kaskade". Best track: "Private visions of the world"

1) Parrhesia 2) Weightless 3) Animals As Leaders 4) The Madness of Many 5) The Joy of Motion

Fairly new to these guys over the past couple of years- aware of them, and will finally catch them in Glasgow in November on oft delayed tour. Definitely have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to them. I tend to have the debut as my favourite, Parrhesia 2nd with the other 3, being less familiar with, rotating around the other positions. On a side note, I saw a young Italian band called Asymmetric Universe who have two EP's opening for Ne Obliviscaris and Persefone, doing a similar style of music. Maybe less dense but definitely worth exploring, for those who enjoy this style of music- similar to Plini also

Nice work Pete, looking forward to this, I hope you can fit paradox one in soon with Steven Reid. 👍

There’s a great video on Rick Beato’s KZfaq channel where he interviews John Petrucci, Tosin Abasi, and Devin Townshead. Tosin Abasi said he was influenced by Meshuggah and Dream Theater. Great interview.

I have "Weightless" ranked pretty high only because it was my introduction into the band. Yeah, they are all pretty close. I was thinking "The Joy of Motion" should be my #1 but "The Madness of Many" is really good. I have no idea. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I saw them open for Between The Buried And Me back in 2011, and have been a fan ever since. Totally recommend seeing them live if you get a chance

there is a live album only available on Vinyl

Fuck an order....I can say that Weightless is my favorite, the rest are also stellar.

more george

Need this for recommendations. I saw them open for DT and don't know anything

I agree that AAL is not good background music! It’s too complex and you have to pay attention to it.

Mindblowing band. 1- Animals as leaders 2- The joy of motion 3- The madness of many 4- Weightless 5- Parrhesia

the whole mathcore influenced the band. just give a listen to *psyopus-odd senses* e.g. but animals as leaders took it to new dimensions in a progy style.

Funny how u mentioned dream theater n animals as leaders. I just saw the tour in Phoenix at the end of July it was the last show of the tour. Dream theater, Devin Townsend n animals as leaders it hurt my head it was so other worldly

George what was the other band you sounds like Animals As Leaders ? I think it began with an X

I respect the musicianship of Tosin he is a hell of a player. However the compositions are lacking and quite circular!

Math Metal

Fairly generic prog metal band in my opinion, don't really get their appeal but I do really like The joy of motion, that's the one record where actual memorable songwriting comes into play instead of just them shredding So it goes: 1. The joy of motion 2. The madness of many 3. Parrhesia 4. Weightless 5. Self titled

I’m in the minority here. I agree with former drummer of IQ Andy Edwards that this band while proficient and all it’s members are virtuosos, it sounds sterile with no heart and no soul. The mind is there definitely but after listen upon listen upon listen nothing is resonating with me. I’m jealous that I don’t find anything here to hang my hat onto.

Don't know ... without lyrics and singing ...yes it's great but we gonna forget this mute acts . That's why hip -hop became officially main music since 2018 .