Misha Mansoor is Producing the Next Animals as Leaders Album

I share in Rob from Metal Injection’s sentiments that Animals as Leaders’ second album, Weightless, didn’t quite live up to the legacy of the debut. There are plenty of great moments on Weightless and some solid songs as well, but overall it just doesn’t have the same replay value, the same “YES!”-ness to the songs and riffs that the first album did.

Many fans who share in that opinion have speculated that what put the first album over the top was Misha Mansoor’s production and general involvement. Not that Tosin Abasi isn’t hella talented on his own, but even great artists can use a little outside input from a producer, ya know? Those fans will be extremely happy to learn that Misha is back in the fold for AAL’s third album, and the writing process is already underway. From Misha’s Facebook:

Tosin Abasi and I have been hard at work on the new Animals As Leaders material. 6 Songs down so far! That’s fucking progress.

Misha also programmed all the drums on AAL’s first album, well before Javier Reyes and then-drummer Navene Koperweis had rounded out Abasi’s live band.

So, that begs the question: will Reyes and new AAL drummer Matt Garstka be involved in the writing process this time around? At the time of the writing and recording of Weightless, much was made of the fact that AAL were now a full trio, not just an Abasi solo project, and that both Reyes and Koperweis would be offering significant writing contributions to that album. Are they still involved in that capacity, or has Abasi written that off as a failed experiment? I doubt there’s any beef; Reyes is still in the band as far as we know, the two still play together in T.R.A.M. and Abasi even guested on Reyes’ own solo effort. I suppose it’s possible that Reyes is no longer in AAL, but we haven’t heard anything to that effect. This is all just conjecture. I suppose we’ll find out soon.

Also, I’m fairly certain that Weightless was last AAL’s last album for Prosthetic Records; Abasi ended up on the label due to “leaving member” contract language from his old band Reflux. Expect AAL to announce they’ve signed with Sumerian sometime in the not-too-distant future; oh, wait, that kinda already happened.

In other news, Misha Mansoor just launched his own clothing line. Check it out.