Periphery – Periphery (2010) Review 7/10

Got djent?

on a more serious note, periphery is a progressive metal band from the USA. I honestly can’t classify them, they combine death metal, technical death metal, avant garde, prog rock, techno, hardcore, and some pop even, into their sound.

This album starts slowly, in a quite generic way unfortunately. Repetitive 8 string riffs, and uninspired vocals rule the first track, while it slightly gets better on “The walk”. The album really starts to shine on the 3rd track “Letter Experiment”, it is more technical than most of the songs on the album, with some fantastic riffage from Bulb (he played with animals as leaders, and kicks total ass.)

The vocal style is really what either makes or breaks the album for me, the screamed vocal sections are fantastic, very heavy and fitting to bulbs 8 string riffs. The cleans on the other hand can be very… pop-ish, which are REALLY hard to get used to with a band such as this. However i will admit that the vocals are executed quite well. “Jetpack was yes” features a lot of these clean vocals, and it works well, though not a favorite of mine because of the vocal section, bulb really pulled through with this track.

The tracks “Light” and “All new materials” are VERY similar to some of the work in Animals as Leaders, with vocals. Instrumentally speaking, this is just as good as animals as leaders, though the vocals make these songs drag a bit, and it blocks the insane execution of the guitarists in this group. The drum work is equally amazing on these tracks, with fantastic double bass to compliment the chugging, and symbol work to compliment it all.

After the first half of the album, the rest of it REALLY shines. “Buttersnips” features some insane tapping from Bulb, and drums to fit, the vocals really work well here, this track is one of the best on the album, and it keeps its technicality without sacrificing melody the entire way through. The following track, Icarus lives, has some great riffing, and vocals, much like the last track, minus a bunch of the technicality.

“Totala Mad” features some insane riffing, tapping, and background parts, very similar to those of Meshuggah. The vocals are very dirty for a lot of the track, and it features a whole lot of dissonance. This Meshuggah feel is kept for the following track, as well. Now i dare you to go listen to the intro to “zyglrox” and not piss your pants. Holy fuck this track rapes me every time i listen to it, it’s by far the heaviest track on the album, and it has some of the most insane tapping, harmonic work, vocals, and drumming I’ve ever heard, and is my personal favorite from the album. The album ends with a 15 minute long track known as Racecar, with some serious djent styled guitar, starting very heavy, and later transitioning into a softer, more melodic piece, with cleaner vocals. The end of racecar is a perfect finish to the album, but also represents many of the albums flaws.

This album has some really insane riffing, great solo work, tapping, drumming, and overall technicality in its work, but i think it would have worked MUCH better as an instrumental album, like AAL. The vocals work well in some songs, but truly ruin some other songs. The last half of the album is very, very good, while the first half just seemed to drag for the majority to me. The album isnt perfect, and certainly isnt a contender for album of the year, but its innovative, and definitely worth checking out regardless.

7/10

Periphery – Periphery (2010) Review 7/10