Review by Saxy S for Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion (2014)

Progressive metal has challenges that other genres of metal do not have to comply with. And the biggest one for me has always been "how far off the deep end can an song/album go before it becomes too much and 'inaccessible'?" The debut record from out non-human overlords brought to focus the prog problem that myself and many of my music graduate class refer to as "the Berklee album". Berklee is one of, if not the most respected and revered post-secondary music program in North America and it produces some incredible talent across all genres of music. The issue is that no one who comes out of Berklee knows how to write a song properly. Animals as Leaders has the chops, but lacks any sense of dynamic growth or memorability for the listener. These records feel more like projects for the artists themselves rather than the audience.

Well in five years Animals as Leaders took these criticisms to heart and finally released The Joy of Motion. This album defines itself apart from other AAL records by incorporating melody and dynamic growth, while still maintaining what makes a record such as this the possession of Animals as Leaders. At no time throughout the record is someone not playing a consistent string of notes, whether that be in the percussion or a technical guitar ostinato pattern. What forces these songs to stand out is that these ostinato's are not at the forefront. Leads on "The Future That Awaited Me" and "Air Chrysalis" are slow and compliment the other parts brilliantly. Furthermore, the way that these leads build and mutate over time is splendid since they don't feel as if they were two separate ideas loosely tied together with silly string.

What matters most to me is that this record isn't boring. It does contain a plethora of Animals as Leaders tropes, but each track has its own unique style to it making it a much easier album to digest than the bands previous two records. Still, I noticed a considerable drop off in attention to finer details on the final three tracks after "Para Mexer". Perhaps it was proggy/djent fatigue that kicked in, but I would have been contempt after just nine tracks. They aren't bad per se, but they de feel like deep cuts, thrown on to the back of an album to pad runtime. Either way, this album is a joyous listen and the motion of head bopping is infectious.

Best songs: Kascade, Air Chrysalis, Another Year, Physical Education, The Future That Awaited Me, Para Mexer