Animals as Leaders

Animals as Leaders is the debut album by progressive metal group Animals as Leaders. It was released on April 28, 2009 by Prosthetic Records.
Before Animals as Leaders Tosin Abasi was a member of metalcore band Reflux that had been disbanded. Reflux's former record label Prosthetic Records saw Abasi's guitar work and asked him to create a solo album for them. Abasi initially declined, feeling such an endeavor would be "egotistical and unnecessary". Afterwards, Abasi enrolled in the Atlanta Institute Of Music which helped give him new creative ideas for music composition. Abasi later changed his mind saying that "doing a solo album seemed to make a lot more sense", and decided to take the label's offer. However, he did not want the project's new album to just represent the idea of one person. Abasi's school experience aided him in developing ideas for the album. While at school he learned fundamental harmony, jazz playing standards, and improved on playing classical guitar.
The name Animals as Leaders was inspired by Daniel Quinn's 1992 novel Ishmael, which addresses anthropocentrism. Abasi coined the name as a reminder "that we're all essentially animals".