Live Review: Animals As Leaders, Allt | O2 Kentish Town Forum, London | 02/11/2023
Prog metal royalty grace us with their awe-inspiring musicianship and a hell of a guitar collection.
Allt
Describing themselves as a progressive metalcore band, Allt play to an impressively packed room to open proceedings. They’re clearly a good match for the crowd, with their impeccably produced show running as slick as a baby seal, glittering electronics ushering in each song and punctuating the barrage of riffs and anthemic screams. The vocal performances are impressive, blending clean melodies with ominous spoken word and ferocious hardcore roars throughout the songs.
The problem is, there are only a few tricks to be pulled out of their particular magic hat, and by the halfway point of the set they’re beginning to wear thin. By the time we hit the fifth or sixth dramatic pause for the bleep bloops to cascade into another djenty breakdown, it’s all become wearily predictable. It starts to feel like the band are playing second fiddle to their own backing track, with the choreographed crab poses and chest-beating feeling a little contrived as they’re repeated song after song in such a familiar fashion.
The sound in the venue doesn’t do the band any favours – at times it sounds like experiencing the show from inside the kick drum, with the intricacies of the music lost beneath a punishing low-frequency barrage. It’s a shame not to be able to properly appreciate a set which has been so lovingly put together. To their credit, the band strike a confident posture on stage, and are genuine and thankful to a crowd that are clearly enjoying their set. Perhaps we’re in the minority wishing for a few rough edges to stop the set sliding so effortlessly down our ear canals, but given the unenviable task of opening for such a massive headliner, Allt do themselves proud.
Photo Credit: Lizzie Dorning
Animals as Leaders
By the time Animals as Leaders take the stage, the O2 forum is jam-packed with a crowd about as diverse as you’d expect for this particular show. The anticipation in the room is palpable and there’s a sense of undeniable fun present – everyone’s here to have a good time and have their minds blown by a trio of incredible musicians. Opening with the classic ‘Tooth and Claw’, the band waste little time with pretentious intro tracks or fanfare – they simply walk onto the stage and get down to the business of melting faces. It’s difficult to know where to focus, with all three members hitting absurd heights of musicianship right off the bat. Credit to Javier Reyes for venturing to the front of the stage and vibing with the crowd while Tosin Abasi is setting his fretboard alight. As you’d expect, there’s barely a single missed note or beat for the whole set, but the band manage to inject the performance with enough feeling that it never feels like simply listening to playback of an album. The banter between songs is short but genuine, as Tosin seems ecstatic to onstage and having the time of his life playing the show. There is a brief raised eyebrow moment when he asks to see “London’s version of a circle pit” – not realising that this audience can’t mosh while counting time signatures on one hand and holding the calculator in the other. Credit for trying, though.
The setlist is heavy on material from 2022’s Parrhesia, but this night is clearly for the diehard fans. Every single song is met with cheers, and it’s obvious when something really gnarly is about to happen because every phone comes out almost in unison at the opening notes of ‘Conflict Cartography’. There’s a guitar change almost every song, and with each new one that comes out on stage a ripple of appreciative head-nods and feverish whispers provide the accompaniment. Nobody is here to look cool – everyone is nerding out to a huge degree and having a great time doing so. It’s nice to get a little respite from the onslaught with the spacey grooves of ‘Gesaltzerfall’, which is no less impressive in technicality but shows that Animals as Leaders have what it takes to craft a beautiful melody without abandoning their signature business and flawless execution. It’s also a fantastic showcase for drummer Matt Garstka, who near steals the show with a flawless masterclass into just how melodic and captivating good drumming can be. By the time the set closes with fan favourite ‘CAFO’, London is all but spent. While watching Animals as Leaders is an undeniable spectacle, it isn’t the most diverse of catalogues and at times there’s a wonder whether doubling up on 8-string slap guitar was a good course to set music on. There are some moments when things start to sound alarmingly like two Primus songs playing at once. But once again – tonight is for the fans and they’ve loved every minute, so who are we to deny the Return of the Kings?
Photo Credit: Lizzie Dorning