Since the late 2000s, Animals as Leaders have held a place apart in the landscape of instrumental metal. Around guitarist Tosin Abasi, a virtuoso of the eight-string guitar and theorist of an unprecedented playing technique, the American trio have done much to define the djent aesthetic, made of syncopated riffs and mathematical rhythms. Parrhesia, their fifth album, extends that quest without ever renouncing its exigency.
The critics (an 82 average across seven reviews) hail an instrumental mastery that leaves one dumbfounded, as well as a writing that, despite the absence of vocals, never yields to mere display. They praise the way the band integrate jazz, electronic and flamenco influences into a metal foundation of surgical precision.
Musically, Parrhesia unfolds a maze of textures: crystalline arpeggios, polyrhythmic grooves, sudden detonations. The record impresses by its density and by the cohesion of a trio that plays as a single organism, every note seeming weighed to the gram.
The genre’s pitfall remains: without the mediation of a voice, the music of Animals as Leaders can seem cold, more admirable than moving, and its formalism ends by tiring the listener little inclined toward pure prowess. The beauty here is real, but often cerebral.
Verdict: 8/10. A record of dazzling virtuosity, an obligatory reference for anyone interested in the technical frontiers of the metal guitar.
