Time Signature Letter experiment...

Genre: djent/metalcore

Periphery is one of those bands that the metal purists and metal elitists absolutely hate, while metalcore fans and djent-lovers tend to praise them. I had obviously heard a lot about this band - good and bad - so I eventually decided to check them out just out of curiosity.

Musically, this album is actually not bad, and there some nice dakkuhduhdaaaw and daaawdaaawduhkkuhdaaawdaaaw djent-styled riffs as well as a couple of nicely groovy metalcore breakdowns (some of which are innovative, many of which are not [but still pretty solid]). One of the main attractions of this album is its progressive nature, and especially the mellow parts and, at times, jazzy guitar leads, are quite good. The band's use of electronica elements is not all that compelling to me, but they are more successful at implementing this feature than many other metalcore/pop bands are.

And then the the singer ruined everything.

He knows how to sing, and his clean voice is actually pretty good, I think, but his harsh vocals are so annoying that they ruin the entire listening experience for me. While the guy has a good singing voice, his overall performance also strikes me as being hysterical and over the top. I have heard a number of metalcore acts with similarly annoying singers, so maybe it's a genre feature or something - whatever it is, it just does not sit well with me.

Fortunately for me, there is an instrumental version of this album out there, so maybe I should check that one out - that might do the music itself some justice.

Kingcrimsonprog Periphery II: This Time Its Personal is the second full-length studio album by the American Metal band Periphery, it was released in 2012, following up on 2011’s Icarus EP and 2010’s self-titled debut album.

Periphery’s style of music is a highly technical and slightly progressive blend of metal, with a clear Messuggah influence in the angular low riffs and focus on rhythm as well as bursts of a much more clean and melodic side and some integration of electronic music, synths and electro drum sounds.

Alongside a number of other bands, they are considered by some to be one of the most important bands in the controversial Djent subgenre. For those who don’t know, a lot of people argue over whether or not Djent is actually a genre or not, and whether some of the bands are really just Tech-Metal and some are just Death Metal, Prog Metal or Deathcore etc …and to be fair only time will tell on that front.

If you like any other Djent or even vaguely Djent-related bands such as Tesseract, Structures, Uneven Structure, After The Burial, Born Of Osiris, After The Burial, Animals As Leaders, Vildhjart, Architects, BMTH, Sikth, Messugah, or just this sort of end of the musical spectrum in general, then they are at least worth a curiosity listen. The album contains a lot of the key features of styles like Deathcore, Metalcore, Prog Metal, Tech-Metal, Math-Metal jumbled together, with bits of electronic music added in moderation.

In fact, regardless of your opinions on the subgenre’s existence or how much you do or don’t like any of the other bands associated with it, if you have liked anything you’ve heard from Periphery thus far, this album is worth checking out.

The musical quality is very high, the quality of the production is high, there are a large amount of ideas on offer and since the album was made available for streaming by the band, overwhelming public opinion seems to say that singer Spencer Sotelo has improved immensely with the vocals.

There are also guest appearances in the form of guitar solos from John Petrucci of Dream Theater, Guthrie Govan of The Aristocrats and Wes Hauch of The Faceless.

If you have heard the pre-released single ‘Make Total Destroy’ you should have some idea of the album’s direction. There is a lot of lead guitar on this album, very brief sections of Death Vocals and Blast Beats, some spacey atmospheric passages, big clean singing parts, occasional effects-laden arpeggiated sections, and mostly a lot of crushing Djenty sections often in non-standard time signatures.

Other highlights include ‘Face Palm Mute,’ which starts off especially angular but has a lot of dynamics, with music cutting off suddenly hear and there for a drum fill or Sikth-esque fast vocal line, as well as ‘Ragnarok,’ which really displays Spencer’s vocals rather well, ‘Scarlet’ which is almost a little reminiscent of Coheed And Cambria and finally the album closer ‘Masamune.’

Overall, Periphery II should keep a lot of fans happy and is worth checking out if you have an interest in the band but haven’t yet taken the plunge. Furthermore; If you can, you should try and get the special edition with two bonus tracks; an extra instrumental track and a cover of Slipknot’s ‘The Heretic Anthem.’

Andyman1125 I've been Jitterbugged by Djent!

After years (and years) of waiting and wading through multiple vocalists until settling on Spencer Sotello as the pipes to lead the band, Periphery's debut has FINALLY been released. A spectacular show of heavy metal chops and progressive bombardment, this album is a great addition to any heavy tech metal fan. I was familiar with many of the songs from Misha Mansoor (Bulb)'s sounclick, and it was nice to hear vocals on them, many of the lyrics having great messages behind them as well.

Insomnia is a good opener, with spectacular attack and steady rhythms. The song really fleshes out Periphery's signature metalcore/deathcore/progmetalcore/epiccore sound with Mansoor's great djenting guitar and Sotelo's surprisingly great vocal capacity.

The Walk is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It has an awesome intro, and a (again) steady rhythm with that powerful djent that is attributed to Periphery.

The Letter Experiment might takes a small amount of time to really get into the song, but once the meat of the song is accessed, its a great track.

Jetpack was Yes offers a breather to the heavy bombardment of metal, but the techno elements may alienate a few people at the start of the track. As the track progresses, a great melody is brought out, showcasing Spencer's vocal capacity.

Light has always been one of my favorites from Misha's soundclick, and in the album, it did not dissapoint. The transitions are spectacular, and the growling and melodic vocals fit perfectly with the songs djent-y melody.

All New Materials is another breather with wonderful melodies that compliment the vocals profoundly well. Periphery always seems to know how to do that despite their extreme heaviness.

Buttersnips is by far my favorite track on the album, save perhaps Icarus Lives and maybe Racecar. That spectacular intro blossoms so nicely into the verses and chorus, making one hell of an epic track!

Icarus Lives, which was one of the first Periphery tracks I heard, when Casey Sabol was the vocalists, has always been a spectacular track. That killer intro, and Spencer's whisperings open into such a wonderful track. The vocals and their allusion to Greek mythology are also great, not to mention the message behind the words.

Totla Mad is a great track. Wonderful polyrhythms permeate the song beautifully.

Ow My Feelings could be called a weaker track, but weaker in Periphery standards is still absolutely awesome!

Zygrox seems to just be a mashup of notes made to sound interesting. It is one of the weaker tracks on the album, with just fast notes and drum beats throwing themselves at the listener with all their might.

Racecar lets the listener truly appreciate Periphery's prowess. Combined with great musicianship, the vocals make an excellent track and closer. Again a deeper message is found in the lyrics. Polyrhythms contribute to the already awesome track. All these elements make the 15 minute long track fly by.

ALBUM OVERALL: This album is, simply stated, worth the wait of years. Almost every year since they started in 2004 they said they would release an album, oh it's pushed back. Nope this year! Never-mind, we needed a new singer. But finally, almost 6 years after all this, Periphery has blasted through with a killer debut album and some killer tracks. They were able to pick the very best that they've written throughout the years and compile a fantastic studio album. 4+ stars.

qlacs This isn't really metalcore. Periphery's debut is hard to put in any genre. It's brutal, melodic, technical and progressive at the very same time. This makes hard to think that it's a good album, because hard to write and produce an album like that. Well, they did it. But Bulb's instrumental songs were refreshed with new vocals, which turned out badly. He really is a mastermind but this choice was so bad I think. Yes, the only low point are the vocals throughout the album. Especially the growls; it lacks all strength. Anyway, this is an excellent album with a rarely good and unique sound.