Animals As Leaders MEGATHREAD: Navene Koperweis Out, Matt Garstka In

[Scattered Messiah]

Well, being in Germany, the album has reached me on Friday. since then, I have been listening, and now came to the conclusion:
pure genius!

the first thing I noticed was the totally different mix. After getting used to this, there is only one thing about the tones, I really do not like much: it's the guitars low strings having this "fretbuzz"-like feeling when being played distorted on the low strings, as for example around 1:35 in Odessa, or even more prominently in DO Not Do Gently after the first 20secs ... or maybe it's just me, but this particular sound is annoying?
Other than this, I like the way it is different from the s/t without losing too much of the AAL feeling. The whole atmosphere is a good bit darker and more oppressing, but this is something I like a lot!

My real favs include "New Eden" (pure sex from beginning to end, imho), most parts of "TLYTAOQ" and "Weightless", some sections of "Cylindrical Sea". After that, the whole damn album as one

The last Album, that got me listening so intensely, was "TDOA" by Ulcerate ... but rather for athmosphere than for pure music joy

[Greatoliver]

I recently downloaded the new album, and god, there are some amazing grooves in here! It feels like a different album, I think I prefer the mix on this one, but I've found so far that they are just different... It's still AAL, but they kind of have a different direction here. I thought some of the tones on the self-titled were not so great to start with, but they really fit now that I have listened to it a lot. Absolutely awesome stuff

[CyborgSlunk]

Originally Posted by Scattered Messiah

the first thing I noticed was the totally different mix. After getting used to this, there is only one thing about the tones, I really do not like much: it's the guitars low strings having this "fretbuzz"-like feeling when being played distorted on the low strings, as for example around 1:35 in Odessa, or even more prominently in DO Not Do Gently after the first 20secs ... or maybe it's just me, but this particular sound is annoying?

I know what you mean, but I don´t mind it.

[MF_Kitten]

This album. Guys. This album. Just... ..... Amazing.

[AugmentedFourth]

I dunno if anyone on here is like this/has discussed this, but I really love AAL (like, a lot, to the point that I'm pretty
sure they are my favorite band of all time) but I don't like metal. Seriously, I browse this forum because I do own an
8 string, but I generally can't even relate to most of it because you folks are mostly into the metals and things. I listen
to jazz, instrumental, prog rock, classical, post-rock, etc., and I mostly use my 8 string for other stuff (jazz, solo
pieces, composition). When I listen to AAL (namely, the s/t and Wave of Babies, I haven't quite gotten used to Weightless
yet, although I have the disc) I think nothing of metal, and to be honest I really couldn't dislike bands like Meshuggah (who I suppose people
say they sound like, as well as others who take influence, e.g. Periphery, TesseracT, etc.) much more. I try, really really hard, to like Meshuggah,
but I can't. My favorite thing in music besides Hamonic structure/analysis is definitely rhythm (grouping, odd time sigs,
polymeters) but seriously, those bands leave a bad taste in my mouth. (And don't even try the "AAL is really just a glorified
Meshuggah with a melody, man, you just can't appreciate the elements Meshuggah contributes, no matter how raw" argument,
because I can appreciate it, and to me Meshuggah is not doing it right at all.) Tosin himself I believe (if I remember correctly)
directly cited Meshuggah as an influence, which is another reason why I have listened to a lot of Meshuggah (to no avail,
as I haven't found a single track I like yet.) When I hear AAL even vaguely compared (dare someone use the word 'ripoff')
to Meshuggah/Periphery/[insert metal band here] it makes me sick to my stomach, as much as I want to like these other bands.
It surprises me that people even went as far as to label AAL as a 'djent' band (with Weightless I can maybe understand,) but
with the s/t, man, that album leaves the least trace of djent I think is possible while still using 8 string guitars. I listen to that
stuff for the amazing sense of harmonic arrangement, amazing flowing structures, development, genius riffs, etc. which
really makes AAL closer to classical music than to jazz OR any kind of metal, the main influences from jazz being 7/9
chords, modal/aug./dim. use and sometimes chord progressions, and the influence of metal limited to (to put it simply)
drum style, and distorted guitars with power chords (not that classical music doesn't have '5' chords as well). I really
wish I could like metal more, but to be honest, for me it's mainly BS, with the exception of obviously AAL (even though
they aren't metal), and occasionally BTBAM (if I find a good one) and Cloudkicker (less metal, more classical ambient ostinato
composition).

Anyways, hope I don't sound like an ass, just wondering about your guy's opinions on this, sorry bout the soapbox-y thing.

[VILARIKA]

I don't think people really consider AAL to be a "djent" band, they just happen to be in the so called "djent scene". As for comparisons to Meshuggah, etc., it's all just a matter of opinion. I can see some relations to them, maybe people see more for some reason. I frankly don't care if people put AAL in any type of category, it's their opinion of the band, not mine. I won't deny them for their opinion, only acknowledge it I guess.

[MF_Kitten]

when people label the band as "Djent", it's mostly because there were some Misha-style grooves in the first album, and some djenty palm mutes, and a bright guitar tone. That's about it really.

Weightless isn't djenty at all (there are only a couple palm mutes that has a hint of djent to them, and there are few "bulby" grooves, if any at all), it's just the definition of tasty.

[Kurkkuviipale]

Originally Posted by AugmentedFourth

wall-o-text

Dude your writing and argumenting are great, but it's really hard to read a text that makes my eyes go crossed. Use the 'enter' button.

Anyway, I don't like 'shuggah either. I respect them for all the rhythmic complexity but I can't get to them. Some songs are better and some I even do like (take Combustion for example). And I don't believe that anyone should like bands that the bands you like take influence of. It's likely that you will like them, but it's not odd if you don't.

[CyborgSlunk]

@AugmentedFourth

Wow, exactly what I think about Meshuggah, thank you for pointing that out! I am really into all kinds of metal (including djent) but I can´t like Meshuggah, I tried so hard. It´s just rhythm exercises for me.

[Blasphemer]

Originally Posted by CyborgSlunk

@AugmentedFourth

Wow, exactly what I think about Meshuggah, thank you for pointing that out! I am really into all kinds of metal (including djent) but I can´t like Meshuggah, I tried so hard. It´s just rhythm exercises for me.

It took me a long, long time to appreciate 'shuggah. It took until I listened to FDSD to get it. I figured out that its just their singing I cant stand.

[FatKol]

Originally Posted by Blasphemer

It took me a long, long time to appreciate 'shuggah. It took until I listened to FDSD to get it. I figured out that its just their singing I cant stand.

Me either. I dearly love Meshuggah, but only because of the instrumental. No offense against Kidman, awesome vocalist .

[Mindcrime1204]

Meshuggah is like drinking from a pinched straw to me...it's a struggle to get much out of it.

AAL will be here in San Antonio in 5 days however

[sakeido]

the new AAL is one of the best albums I've ever heard. They are in town Dec6 so that's when I'll buy my copy and a couple shirts.. some of these songs are just mindblowing. The songwriting is better, the album is much more diverse yet still cohesive. The Misha Sound that imo never worked for these guys is gone now.. the mix has improved by several orders of magnitude, the guitar tone is perfect, the bass is huge, the electronic elements are integrated way better, the drum sound is way better. Everything is a quantum leap forward from their debut.

its a masterpiece imo.

my favorite tune is Infinite Regression but Isolated Incidents and Do Not Go Gently are also kickass. So is the title track.

[MF_Kitten]

Meshuggah is amazing, but it's so far from conventional songwriting. They really take their time, and it develops this trance-like feeling. It's really the most enjoyable when you get sucked into the grooves and deep timbres.

[glassmoon0fo]

^QFMFT. The trick to enjoying the genius of Meshuggah is to step back and see the big picture. It isn't really about the crazy rhythms for crazy rhythms' sake, its more about your subconscious getting worked into a trace. Your ear and mind recognize aural patterns almost instantly, whether they're metered or not. the cool thing is, 'shuggah taps into this concept in a way we can all grasp by adding the 4/4 drums behind the patterns. the super-low guitar tone helps achieve that trance-like state too (i feel like it almost "purrs" me to sleep sometimes ). As far as I'm concerned, Kidman's vocals are just icing on the cake (and DUDE, the lyrics are pretty deep sometimes. Just reading the words to Organic Shadows gives me chills).

All in all, some people enjoy meshuggah that way while others just rock the .... out to 'em, and some dont like 'em at all. Can't deny though, AAL DOES take a lot of the afformentioned cheracteristics from our sweedish saviors, without sounding at all like a blatant ripoff =)

[MF_Kitten]

Do Not Go Gently, followed by New Eden, gives me massive chills. every. single. time.

[JoeyBTL]

Prosthetic Records | Official Website

[Kurkkuviipale]

^Whoa. That's pretty damn nice.

[Mindcrime1204]

[Dan_Vacant]

this is kinda with the off topic meshuggah talk but I was listing to them to help me sleep and then shed came on and the intro scream made me jump XD. I agree with that aal is closer to classical music more then most stuff it gets labeled as.

[gr8Har V]

Originally Posted by AugmentedFourth

When I hear AAL even vaguely compared (dare someone use the word 'ripoff')
to Meshuggah/Periphery/[insert metal band here] it makes me sick to my stomach.

Misha Mansoor (lead guitarist of periphery) wrote well over half the music on the AAL self-titled debut because he produced the album with Abasi.

so i wouldn't say AAL is WAY better than periphery, when periphery's songwriter wrote over half the stuff on AAL's debut album which made them so well renowned

[glassmoon0fo]

where the actually hell did you get "well over half" from? I love misha as much as the next man but he's said himself that he helped with arranging more than anything.

[GSingleton]

sooo.....back on topic. They killed it live.

[ScrotieMcBoogerballs]

Originally Posted by glassmoon0fo

where the actually hell did you get "well over half" from? I love misha as much as the next man but he's said himself that he helped with arranging more than anything.

This is what I heard as well. I was under the impression that he wrote the odd riff but was more prominent in the arrangement of the songs.

[sakeido]

Originally Posted by gr8Har V

Misha Mansoor (lead guitarist of periphery) wrote well over half the music on the AAL self-titled debut because he produced the album with Abasi.

so i wouldn't say AAL is WAY better than periphery, when periphery's songwriter wrote over half the stuff on AAL's debut album which made them so well renowned

AAL is WAY better than the Periphery that put out an album. I like to pretend that band doesn't exist. The periphery that put out random tunes every couple years with a couple different really awesome vocalists? still one of my all time favs but even then I'm not sure I'd take them over Weightless animals