Animals as Leaders

I know I said I was going to talk a lot less about music and that's still broadly true but I just cannot get over these guys. Animals as Leaders is the project of Tosin Abasi and represents some of the most interesting technical metal to come out of the US in the last 5 years in my opinion.
Tosin used to play lead guitar for technical metalcore band Reflux (who're also awesome) but was approached to do a solo album shortly before Reflux broke up. AaL have released two albums so far and their latest, Weightless, is one of the best albums of 2011.

What particularly appeals to me is the complexity of the guitar tracks and the fusion of traditional progressive drumming with IDM elements. If this got any more glitchy I don't know if I could deal with it.
Tosin manages to maintain a heaviness I've not come across before without degenerating into the heavy metal circus music of Dream Theater or the classical wankery of Yngwie Malmsteen.
Partly I'd say this is simply because he's a younger guitarist and thus has been exposed to a wider range of heavy music growing up but there's probably a multitude of complex reasons which I can't hope to guess at.

They're playing here in a week or two and unfortunately thanks to my exams I don't have time to go. Really really disappointing. Oh well, education comes first.

Big thanks to Jeph of Questionable Content for recommending these guys.

Check out An Infinite Regression;