All hail stan! Periphery’s new album is finally out, with songs that will most definitely shake you to your very core. With some very different and rather vivid music, this album is sure to leave you begging for more but all the while ecstatic with the nine new tracks that you’re definitely going to have on repeat for the next two months.
In most of the interviews periphery has been in, the guitarists – Misha Mansoor, Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb, and their vocalist, Spencer Sotelo, always talked about how this album is a very different take from what the fans expected from their usual music, and that this album is their statement, and they’re finally getting to do what they want to do. While the album and the style of periphery in it is rather similar, the music in it definitely is different, and is most definitely a turn in the right direction, with Jake’s integration of some electronic parts in a few songs. One example of this bold statement is opening the album with “Reptile”, a 16 minute thriller of a song, bring back old memories of P1, with dirty riffs, spencer’s perfect transitions from clean to dirty to straight up growling vocals, along with a guest monologue from Sikth’s lead vocalist, Mike Goodman. The song is heavy, brings the right flavour of djent to it, and reminisces the periphery we’ve all been eager for perfectly.
The next set of songs bring out the new experiments Misha had been trying out with new riffs, a grungier tone, and a solid personality to each song, making it rather unique but still periphery at heart. Blood Eagle was the first song to be released in mid-February, and the song blew everyone’s expectations of the new album to a whole new level. The song is the story of the Vikings pillaging through Europe, mostly through the united kingdom, with rather aggressive lyrics and perfectly set musical sections for when “we come for war”. The song itself is perfectly transitioned from aggressive to smooth to aggressive, and is definitely one of the most memorable songs periphery have ever written.
The next song, “Church Burner” seems to be the heavy metal track periphery wanted to try playing around with, and right from the moment the song starts, its hard hitting drum track, dirty vocals and a slow breakdown of a chorus is very reminiscent of some classic modern heavy metal bands, while also doing a brilliant job of never compromising on their own style. The other side of this coin, so to speak, is the next song, “Garden in the bones”, which was another song that had been released as a single in mid-march before the album came out, to give a taste of what was to come. And with respect to where this song is in the album, this song is the perfect transition. The song starts off mellow, and picks up through the sections, but altogether has a much calmer vibe than the start of the album, and it’s the star of Jake’s EDM skills.
From this point in the album, periphery seems to emphasise more on tonality over technicality, which means there’s lesser 140 bpm riffs, and more beautiful open chords along with clean lyrics that would send chills down your spine. “It’s only smiles” and “Follow your ghost” show this off in the best way, where it’s only smiles is a much calmer song, with the additional riffs to back it up. Follow your ghost is it’s glorious return to good old slow djent sections, with melodic keyboard tracks later too. Follow your ghost is a strangely addicting song, and it ends with a rather perfect solo from Jake himself. The next song, “Crush”, shows off the completely different tangent periphery decided to take with this song, with about as much electronic music as the next song, while also deciding that spencer growling sometime in the middle would be a good idea. Well, it definitely was, with Misha and Mark backing up those vocals, this felt like the perfect blend of metal and electronic music.
The album ends with a final cap-off of what periphery wanted to change in their music, the change of bringing open strummed chords into the picture to make their music a lot more beautiful. And it’s done perfectly with a dash of modern day metal djent in the last two songs of the album, “Sentient glow” and “Satellites”. The melodies written for the last two songs will assure an experience that is uplifting, but will never let you lose your hype, ending the album with a warm glow in your heart and one special message for all its listeners at the end.
Overall, this album will definitely be one of the best albums of periphery, if not one of the best of 2019. The only downside to this album is that while some of these songs were a delight to listen to, the album as a whole does not feel like it will be a memorable one. A few songs will definitely be remembered, but the album as a whole might lose some of it’s recognition due to a few other songs being lacklustre in comparison. But this album as a whole, might be remembered as the turning point in the new path periphery looks forward to, with their new influences, new style of writing, and their new music to come.
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