Karolina Malyan
Before Animals as Leaders appeared – a Californian trio, Night Verses – showed what they have in store. Their 9-song set was immersive, groovy and incredibly engaging, with enchanted by their sound crowd. Promoting their newest album – Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night from 2024 – Night Verses proved that they are a right choice for opening slot to such icons as Animals as Leaders. It felt like their most prominent parts of the set were songs such as opening “Arrival” or “Vice Wave”, when the drummer Aric Improta (also known from his work with Fever333 and House of Protection) made an epic jump in front of his drum kit… And later repeated it to crown an incredible set, wrapping their tour alongside Animals as Leaders. As if that wasn’t enough – March 15th is also bassist Reilly Herrera’s birthday, and it was celebrated with a loud and joyful “Happy Birthday” sung for him by fans gathered in The Roundhouse.
Overall, watching Night Verses’ set was very enjoyable and mind-soothing before the main star of the night. With the drummer’s high energy and guitar section composure, it felt like a powerful mix that caught the right spirit, and it carried forward during the night.
Animals as Leaders is a kind of band that you don’t have to introduce to djent heads for their accomplishments in the genre. If you by any chance don’t recognise them – the Washington D.C. instrumental trio are one of the pioneers of progressive metal among many performers like Plini or Intervals in example. Established by the legendary guitarist Tosin Abasi in 2007 when his earlier band – Reflux – disbanded, the band produced many ground-breaking, unconventional and powerful albums in 18 years of existence. And this is why London crowds gathered on Saturday evening to celebrate a full decade of arguably the most known work of Americans – The Joy of Motion released in 2014.
When the moment finally came for the headliner to start their set, people inside the venue got increasingly lively seeing the band members appear on stage. The audience’s joyful response to see Javier Reyes, Tosin Abasi and Matt Garstka start with ‘Kaskade’ was genuinely heart-warming to experience. The same mood applied to musicians as well – watching band members play with a pure enjoyment on their faces, Tosin was grinning from ear to ear every single time he took time to talk to fans… Such little touches to their show made it very special to experience. And if we include that The Joy of Motion anniversary tour had the biggest production yet brought to Europe – it was a recipe for a great success.
Speaking about playing The Joy of Motion being played in full and it being already a great treat for progressive metal fans to experience – it feels right to mention some of special moments of the event. It was so amazing to see happy crowds chant chords of the most popular song by Animals as Leaders – ‘Physical Education’ to shortly being mesmerised by a beautiful lighting glow up The Roundhouse with the next track – ‘Tooth and Claw’. Also, shout-outs given by Tosin to Javier for writing Latino-inspired ‘Para-Mexer’ that included an acoustic guitar as well as heavy and groovy ‘Nephele’ were genuinely a wholesome addition to the show.
When the concert was about to finish after playing all songs from The Joy of Motion, suddenly Animals as Leaders surprised fans by including four more songs from their most recent work – the 2022 album Parrhesia. The encore included tunes like ‘Micro-Aggressions’, ‘Red Miso’, grandiose ‘Monomyth’ and lastly to conclude the London’s event – ‘Gordian Naught’.
It is so impressive to see a band being this fresh sounding and conveying their art through enjoyment like it is their first tour ever. Somehow, Animals as Leaders are still doing it… But with more maturity and more craftsmanship than aspiring musicians who put their first steps on a music scene. Watching an insane amount of perfectly executed drum chops from Matt and a mind-blowing guitar harmony between Tosin and Javier was a delight to listen to. After participating in the concert this extraordinary – we can be peaceful about the band’s future as well as continuity of groovy, colossal, and magical sound with the future tours and studio albums to come.
