Metal has changed from its roots. The angst predominant behind the making of metal music of the 60’s to the 90’s is not as prevalent today, and the same applies to the local scene. The tributaries of sound that the genre has gone through are many and varied- grindcore, technical death, stoner doom, Swedish black metal. The subtle differences between these sounds show you how far metal has come as an independent style and genre. Of late, progressive Djent sounds have been more and more common, even in national bands. There are a fair few international acts that set the bar for this dynamic, and Animals as Leaders is one of them.
The second edition of Bangalore Open Air(BOA) saw Animals as Leaders killing it on stage pre-dusk. With an exciting set comprising mostly of their second album, Weightless, guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes, along with drummer Matt Garstka reminded Bangalorean metal heads how deep progressive Djent can go.
There were 4 other top-class international bands playing BOA, but somehow to me Animals as Leaders sounded the most futuristic, with the crispest, progressive and fresh sounds. Even conceptually, the anger-driven brute force of metal was not the predominant aspect of their sound. It was overshadowed by intricate precision, a good mix of loud and soft dynamics, and even the name of the band itself. A much more forward thinking name than veteran headliners Iced Earth, who totally rocked out too!
These mellow aspects that somehow infiltrate through the tiny cracks are what attract a larger and more diverse audience to a metal gig. It is this part of the progressive sound that some Indian bands are now trying to catch. Skyharbor has already got some international quality Djent out and several smaller Bangalore bands also regularly gig to put out awareness of this music more. People ply to these concerts in droves, especially in Bangalore. Not only because the venues maybe hospitable or a bunch of friends are going, but also because one gets the chance to experience a good variety of metal related noises.
At the show, the mixing of the synths was also exemplary, with seamless transitions from heavy head-banging riffs to soft electronic breakdowns. This is what made the show for me- a different sound and feel from some of the really loud thrash emerging these days. Even if the overly loud and distorted metal bands are sounding tight, I am unable to appreciate because I can’t understand the motives behind playing only such loud music. It just ends up sounding monotonous and droning to me. But this was different. Tosin and gang were loud, yet had some changes in dynamic too. An intricate mix of diverse mellow tones, yet inherently metal.
Thus, motives and origins behind one of music’s most angry genres have come a long way and changed in their roots in the last 4 decades and when applying it to the local scene, it’s interesting to see how many new bands have come up and evolved. The random, unique ways in which each of these bands express their metal shows the type of shifting mentality that the average metal-head is going through. Hopefully we’ll see even more diverse, intricate and technical metal bands emerge.
