Animals as Leaders is a Washington, D.C. based instrumental progressive metal project formed by guitarist Tosin Abasi in 2007. Their self-titled debut album was released in April 2009 by Prosthetic Records. Animals as Leaders was formed "out of the ashes" of guitarist Tosin Abasi's previous band, Reflux. The heavy metal 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".