Djent.
That's right, I said it. I've seen this subgenre stir so much discussion/controversy over the past couple years you'd think it was dubstep or something. It certainly has grown in the past few years and Periphery is part of the reason why. I wasn't particularly enchanted with their debut though, and it wasn't until Tesseract's One that I really took a liking to the genre. However, I find myself reexamining my attitude towards this style of music after spinning their latest effort, Periphery II, for a few weeks.
I guess I'll just start by saying I like this album a great deal more than it's predecessor. While I'm aware Djent is a primarily rhythmic style, providing a melody for the audience to grasp on to is still an important quality and Periphery II has that in spades. The singer, Spencer Spotelo is directly responsible for this -- guiding the listener through all the calculated palm-muting and syncopated feels. Essentially he is what makes this all work in my opinion. While the band as a whole has shifted to a more listener-friendly approach, it is Sotelo that drives it primarily. His vocal hooks and melodic choruses are catchy as hell, and the growls he delivers are fuller and harder-hitting than the singing on the album previous.
But enough comparisons. Let's dive into the album.
Structurally, Periphery II is very progressive. Songs are not just self-contained entities but are rather passages that blend into one another through electronic interludes that dwell in the first/last two minutes of several tracks. That, combined with a recurring lyrical motif, makes this an album you should listen to front-to-back rather than in piecemeal fashion. Unfortunately, the album's 73 minute runtime is not conducive to this at all. I wouldn't have shed a tear if a couple of the less exceptional tracks were dropped in favor of a more streamlined tracklist. Ji, Scarlet, and 13 Mile Zero have their moments but are ultimately just filler in my book.
A track that certainly stands out is Erised. Named after a mirror from Harry Potter, Erised is completely devoid of screams or the hard percussive onslaught that backbreakers like Ragnarok throw down. Instead, we get a nice respite that closes with Dream Theater's John Petrucci shredding some face... although, to be honest, Halpern's drum solo that preceded it was way more fascinating to me. Like many drummers in the genre, Halpern maintains the ever-essential task of providing a 4/4 backbone for the band while playing tons of ghost notes and accents to match the rhythms underneath it. Similar drummers like Stef Broks and Jeff Postones are still forces to be reckoned with, but Matt Halpern just carries a tasty groove like no other in the genre. His jazz and reggae background really shows through and it adds a lot to the album.
While the vocals this time around are solid and the drumming spectacular, the true focus of Periphery is the guitar trio that defines the band. While I wouldn't consider myself very knowledgeable of guitars, I still can appreciate all that goes on between the three axemen. Internet icon and lead guitarist, Misha "Bulb" Mansoor, leads them into a wild yet still synergistic frenzy of palm-muting and melodic solos that never fail to get lodged in my head.
An interesting facet about all of this technical playing is how serious you would expect the artists to take their music. While still very abstract at time, the lyrics are respectably meaningful to some degree, and the delivery for the most part is appropriate. Despite how serious Periphery should take their music, they still opt for silly references for song names - a move generally reserved for scenecore bands like The Devil Wears Prada or Asking Alexandria (Reptar anyone?). Because of this, I feel it disparages the maturity of the album slightly. One could argue that music really shouldn't be taken that seriously and maybe metal/tech/prog geeks should loosen their britches a bit and they may be right, but I still feel naming the core tracks of your album that carry a unifying motif after Final Fantasy swords is something I would expect from Powerglove or some nerdcore act. Despite this and a few other slight grievences, Periphery II is a great addition to this year's Progressive music roster.
I give Periphery II: This Time It's Personal 3.5 Onamatopeias out of 5.
A track that certainly stands out is Erised. Named after a mirror from Harry Potter, Erised is completely devoid of screams or the hard percussive onslaught that backbreakers like Ragnarok throw down. Instead, we get a nice respite that closes with Dream Theater's John Petrucci shredding some face... although, to be honest, Halpern's drum solo that preceded it was way more fascinating to me. Like many drummers in the genre, Halpern maintains the ever-essential task of providing a 4/4 backbone for the band while playing tons of ghost notes and accents to match the rhythms underneath it. Similar drummers like Stef Broks and Jeff Postones are still forces to be reckoned with, but Matt Halpern just carries a tasty groove like no other in the genre. His jazz and reggae background really shows through and it adds a lot to the album.
While the vocals this time around are solid and the drumming spectacular, the true focus of Periphery is the guitar trio that defines the band. While I wouldn't consider myself very knowledgeable of guitars, I still can appreciate all that goes on between the three axemen. Internet icon and lead guitarist, Misha "Bulb" Mansoor, leads them into a wild yet still synergistic frenzy of palm-muting and melodic solos that never fail to get lodged in my head.
An interesting facet about all of this technical playing is how serious you would expect the artists to take their music. While still very abstract at time, the lyrics are respectably meaningful to some degree, and the delivery for the most part is appropriate. Despite how serious Periphery should take their music, they still opt for silly references for song names - a move generally reserved for scenecore bands like The Devil Wears Prada or Asking Alexandria (Reptar anyone?). Because of this, I feel it disparages the maturity of the album slightly. One could argue that music really shouldn't be taken that seriously and maybe metal/tech/prog geeks should loosen their britches a bit and they may be right, but I still feel naming the core tracks of your album that carry a unifying motif after Final Fantasy swords is something I would expect from Powerglove or some nerdcore act. Despite this and a few other slight grievences, Periphery II is a great addition to this year's Progressive music roster.
I give Periphery II: This Time It's Personal 3.5 Onamatopeias out of 5.
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