I guess Van Halen is more mainstream, since they could have easily added Randy Rhoads or Yngwie Malmsteen to the list.
I’m not sure I’m that amazed by the Animals as Leaders clip. He’s fast, and with 8 strings, that’s more notes you can have.
Angular, fast solos. The tonality isn’t that interesting. Every note varies only in pitch. I’m not sure how they get away with calling themselves djent . It sounds quite a bit like progressive metal. I prefer the sounds of like Kylesa and Mastodon. The dynamics there. I’m not saying Laura Pleasants is the best guitarist of all time. But I think I prefer what Kylesa does to the really fast melodic / prog metal soloing. But I prefer the 70s guitarists to the 80s guitarists. I thought the 80s guitarists lacked “rock”. Too fast, they lose me. The guitaring is like a layer, pasted on top of the song. It’s like you have to choose between great riffs, and a superfast layer of melodic soloing, and I’d like to hear both.