Cerebral music was the theme of the evening at Philly’s TLA this past Saturday as renowned progressive metal bands Between The Buried and Me and Animals As Leaders treated fans to two immaculate performances. This is thinking man and woman’s metal right here. So if mindless chugging and a barrage of simple 4/4 riffs is your jam, this was not the show for you.
Three-piece instrumental outfit Animals As Leaders are having quite the year with the release of their second LP Weightless which dropped in early November on Prosthetic Records and made a respectable #92 debut on The Billboard Charts. If you are just tuning into the band let me frame this for you – Renowned singer Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan described them in an interview with Hit The Floor Magazine recently by saying, “One band over the last year in particular that has been doing something really, really, really new and impressive is this instrumental band Animals As Leaders…Those guys are amazing and every time I see them they get leaps and leaps and leaps better to the point where the last time I saw them- I felt like I was watching someone speak a language I didn’t even understand..” Pretty much sums it up. This band is the next level and Saturday’s performance found the band on point and melting faces per usual. The fluidity of their performances are truly awe-inspiring, as the band cruises through some of the most complicated guitar structures ever laid down on 8-string guitars. Hats off to these gentlemen.
Raleigh NC’s Between The Buried And Me put in a performance one would expect from a band that has bringing their math-induced-progressive shred to stages around the world for well over a decade. With five full-length releases under their belts (with the latter four having become staples of modern progressive metal) Between The Buried and Me are showing no signs of slowing down as was evident with Saturday’s performance. BTBAM put together several new medleys for this tour and are presenting material that digs way back into their archive. This song selection put wide grins on faces of thousands of adoring fans.
Britain’s TesseracT rounded out the bill with an opening performance that was nothing to sneeze at either, as the band is currently supporting their debut studio album One, which was released earlier this year on Century Media Records.
Once again, our exceptionally talented and enthusiastic photographer Dante Torrieri was on hand to capture the show in photos for your viewing pleasure.
So without further ado..
All Pictures by Dante Torrieri of Useless Rebel Imaging.
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