Weightless

Virtuoso guitarist Tosin Abasin stepped away from his band Reflux in 2009 to release a solo project he called Animals as Leaders. Two years later, Animals as Leaders is a fully realized band, with writing credits shared among its three members. The results are impressive — their second album, Weightless, is an instrumental, technical death metal album that moves cleverly between brutality and verbosity, with elements of both electronic and space music interspersed throughout. The mind-boggling virtuoso playing exists inside genuinely clever songwriting, and while aspiring musicians will enjoy picking their jaws off the floor while listening, the band’s appeal extends well beyond those with a jones for well-honed technical chops. Metal fans, prog rockers and jazz fusioners will find this a great listen that soars as well as it shreds. Weightless is a thinking man’s metal Mahavishnu — impressive, inspiring and head-banging all at once.