Click here to subscribe to the Spotify playlist.If you want a taste of just how radical progressive metal’s transformation has been, look no further than Animals as Leaders. The instrumental power trio’s brainy blend of djent and jazz fusion is light years removed from the genre’s roots in the scorching, technical precision of old school heavies like Dream Theater and Fates Warning. Where those outfits basically are hair metal dudes with killer chops, Animals as Leaders look like clean cut, lovably nerdy computer programmers. Over the last two decades, progressive metal has spawned dozens of similarly unique hybrid outfits. Periphery incorporate seething, emo-spired screams and metalcore crunch, while Mastodon enjoy slathering their prog with sludge. At the heavier end of the spectrum lurks The Dillinger Escape Plan, the undisputed champs of mathcore, as well as those Swedes in Meshuggah, who basically were the first band to cross progressive metal with extreme metal and neck-snapping polyrhythms. Press play and get cerebral.
