WAVE OF BABIES

Having taken the metal world by storm this year with incessant touring and the release of their superb debut album, math metal outlet Animals As Leaders has quickly won favour with young guitarists around the world. With guitar work that Steve Vai himself said he was impressed by, band leader Tosin Abasi is certainly one of the scene's newfound heroes; and while being far from the best AAL track I have heard, the newly released song 'Wave Of Babies' does go to show why Abasi is being taken so seriously, so early on.

'Wave Of Babies' is the sort of song that has plenty of good parts to it, but it doesn't mesh together particularly well. Going from a spacy introduction straight into rhythmic metal experimentation, it does not feel like there is any effective transition between the dynamic extremes. During the heaviness, some virtuosic soloing plays overtop the djent riffage, but while sounding very skilled, it doesn't add anything substantial to the song and feels a bit soulless, especially for such a talented guitarist as Abasi.

Things pick up a great deal however, when the bass guitar takes center stage. Some rapidfire bass tapping floods the speakers and allows a respite from the dominance of the electric guitar. Things are cut short though, and revers back to the main theme of the song. A good track and certainly something for a fan of the band to look up, but Animals As Leaders has definately released better material in their short time.