Joshua Sneed has been a long time endorsee, supporter, and artist for the Vola brand. With an admirable musical upbringing and impressive list of personal accolades, he has certainly carved out a space for himself in the industry.  Recently, he felt inspired to step outside of the norm and devise a solo over one of metal titan Animals as Leader’s most popular tracks.  Since its release, “Physical Education” has cemented itself as a staple in the progressive metal and djent world, thanks to its integration of thumping technique, rhythmic complexity, and genre-defying arrangement.  With the backbone of Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes's signature guitar approach and Matt Gartska's anger inducing drumming skillset, this song will forever be a boundary-pushing reference. Sneed then threaded in angular chromatic lines, slippery legato, and snappy hybrid picking with the confidence of someone who’s studied the playbook—and then set it on fire. Since a solo was not originally present in that portion of the song,  his playing became a conversation with the track, one that pushed against the boundaries without ever losing touch with the source.

Sneed’s command of modern technique is no accident. His playing draws deeply from today’s elite guitarists—think Guthrie Govan’s harmonic elasticity, Mateus Asato’s melodic instinct, Lari Basilio’s touch sensitivity, and the percussive bite of Min Kang. Add in an acute awareness of endless other influences, and you start to understand how Sneed hears the fretboard differently. His style doesn’t mimic; it reinterprets. That shows in this solo, where he sidesteps predictable shred for phrases that feel both mechanical and human. There’s tension, diversity, and most importantly—voice. This is a player who’s studied the masters and come away sounding like himself.

A big part of what shaped the tone and articulation of Sneed’s solo was his choice of weapon: the Vola OZ ROA. Known for its boutique resonance and surgical clarity, the OZ ROA gave Sneed the dynamic range he needed to jump from percussive rhythmic ideas to fluid melodic lines without losing definition. The roasted maple neck and Vola custom pickups gave him the tight response and upper-mid punch that made every aural twist cut through the mix. Whether he was skipping across strings or digging in for gritty bends, the guitar held its own—and then some. It wasn’t just about tone; it was about trust. Sneed leaned on the OZ ROA’s versatility to chase his ideas in real time, knowing the instrument would keep up.

What really amplified Sneed’s solo is his use of chromaticism as a storytelling tool. Instead of playing it safe inside a mode, he ventures out—playing between the lines, bending expectations in a way that adds friction and energy. It’s the kind of playing that keeps your ear chasing the next note, unsure if it’s going to land or twist. His phrasing toys with rhythmic displacement, dancing around the track’s polyrhythmic foundation without ever losing his footing. In a genre that often prizes precision over personality, Sneed found a way to give us both. His performance isn’t just technically sharp—it’s artistically intrepid.

You can hear his incredible performance in its entirety HERE.