Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Prog, Instrumental | Heft: eclipsed Nr. 160 / 5-2014, Jahrgang 2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 8/10 | Label: Sumerian | Autor: MB
Tosin Abasi is a modern guitar god. At first nobody wanted to recognize him as such. With "The Illusion Of Democracy", the first and only album of his former combo Reflux, the young coloured guitarist had delivered a quite demanding, progressive Metalcore album in 2004, but remained under the radar. Since the founding of his solo project Animals As Leaders - a project that Abasi initially dismissed as selfish and unnecessary - his career has been going steeply uphill. Already on his self-titled debut (2009), the then 26-year-old wanted his latest baby to be understood as a real band, but played bass, guitar and drum sequencers on his own. On "Weightless" (2011), a hard to crack instrumental chunk, Abasi actually had a complete band at the start and was able to further refine his remarkable playing technique on the seven and eight strings respectively. The thrashing and hardcore elements of the early days were increasingly receding into the background. Instead, avant-garde tapping, tastefully airy acoustic parts and jazz-tracked rhythms began to dominate his music. Again and again Abasi also added pleasing melodies, but even after several runs the album remained at times strangely emotionless. This has now changed. Because "The Joy Of Motion" combines hyperactive Jent-Hardness and Jazz-Harmonics with electronic and ambient playing with incomparable ease. The craftsmanship and musical vision of Tosin Abasi always had to be taken off one's hat anyway. But now technique, songwriting and emotions finally enter the long awaited perfect symbiosis. A great album with depth.
Top track: Air Chrysalis
