Events

[ROCK] Purveyors of djent – a very distinctive distorted, palm-muted, low-pitch/high-gain guitar sound – D.C. trio Animals as Leaders are considered a progressive metal outfit, but that actually sells them a bit short. It’s progressive for sure, but is it really metal? Only sometimes. Maybe. Essentially built around the skills of Nigerian-American eight-string guitar wizard Tosin Abasi, AAL’s latest, The Madness of Many, favors a less chaotic approach than its two predecessors and finds the band settling into a groove that simmers with chemistry. The most envelope-pushing moments are at the disc’s end (“The Brain Dance,” “Apeirophobia”) when Abasi switches to acoustic guitars, dabbling in Latin inflections and, in the latter piece, playing against a layered backdrop of strings. It’s a welcome break from the dizzying pace at which he tends to work and allows the listener some breathing room. It’s hard to imagine that AAL’s live show would be anything but phenomenal for true lovers of the instrumental prowess that informs top shelf prog outfits like this one, including jazz kids and jam fiends. Veil of Maya opens, Friday, May 12 at Town Ballroom.