ALBUM REVIEW: Parrhesia – Animals As Leaders
On the list of bands that need no introduction, ANIMALS AS LEADERS rank pretty close to the top. They have been spewing out iconic technical metal records for over a decade now, renowned for their uber-precise approach and unique creativity. This week sees the release of Parrhesia, the long awaited follow up to 2016’s The Madness Of Many, and to say that excitement has been brewing would be quite the understatement. Nearly six years in the making, the announcement reinvigorated the profound love that many of us share for this band and left us eager to hear how a new album might sound.
Immediately we are thrust into another dizzying soundscape by way of Conflict Cartography, which, aside from a brief introduction, quickly resumes the same ultra-fast tempo we last heard from the band. The very pinnacle of instrumental talent is on display as the track flickers between supersonic riffing and djenty interludes that bounce and pop. Monomyth carves a similar path; heavy, groovy and intricately crafted with microscopic details that keep unravelling with every listen. Red Miso offers a flickering introduction that gradually turns up the dial, like pulling back an elastic band to release it, triggering an enigmatic finale.
Gestaltzerfall mixes elements of math rock in what feels like a slightly less chaotic track, and then Asahi slows things down even further by way of an ambient interlude. Either translating as ‘Morning, Sunlight’ or named after a particularly delicious Japanese beer, this moment of tranquillity gives way to the synth-driven intro of The Problem Of Other Minds which is arguably one of the album’s stand out tracks. Short and sweet, it utilises PLINI-esque sweeps of guitar over the top of which sit more stabbing notes and progressively faster drums. It is only a two-and-a-half minute segment, but this feels like ANIMALS AS LEADERS at their genre-bending best.
Next on the agenda, Thoughts And Prayers continues the less pacey approach for its opening half, focusing instead on building thick-set atmosphere. Inevitably the choppy djent returns in the track’s later stages, ramping up the heaviness yet maintaining an inordinate level of control. Micro-Aggressions is monstrous. The notes played here are inexplicably dense, arguably allowing this particular piece to stand as one of ANIMALS AS LEADERS’ most prolific individual tracks. It rattles along with scientific precision before leading into the album’s final track, Gordian Naught. It probably won’t come as a surprise that the band chose to finish the record with a flourish, and this closer does just that. It concludes an album that feels stronger in the second half than it does the first – or perhaps it just takes our ears a few tracks to adjust to the bonkers world that is an ANIMALS AS LEADERS album!
In all, Parrhesia feels like a natural progression for the Washington, D.C. natives. They are a band with very little to prove, but sometimes a legacy like theirs can be hard to live up to. How this latest effort ranks among their discography will be down to individual opinion, but the fact of the matter is that ANIMALS AS LEADERS are back. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that!
Rating: 8/10
Parrhesia is set for release on March 25th via Sumerian Records.
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