I don't understand what's not supposed to be 'fair' about categorizing a certain band by the genre/style they associate themselves with, it's perfectly logical.
That said, you seem shocked at the quality of their music, come on man, Periphery has always been amazing
they're probably the single most "standard" band of the current wave of djent
Yep, when you look at Animals As Leaders, Periphery's amount of djent is childs play compared to them. Which is probably why I like Periphery and don't like AAL. 2djent4me