The Periphery Thread

[ProfessorPeart]

I was looking forward to this but my lazy mail person screwed the pooch. I saw the mail truck pull up to my mailbox and put several things in it. I go out and find no Amazon package. Get a note from Amazon a few hours later that I need to work with my carrier because my mailbox and front door were inaccessible. 

Now I wait until tomorrow to see if my mailbox is accessible.

[YtseJamittaja]

Listened to this once today. Sounded really good and it's really versatile record. Need to grow this baby a few days but sounds like another really strong album from them. 

Second time the singles were the least favourites from the album. Same happened with PIII, The Price Is Wrong didn't hook me at all and Blood Eagle was also really confusing and too much for me. Was a pleasant surprises how good the whole album sounded compared to the singles.

[twosuitsluke]

I'm not a particularly big Periphery fan but I was pretty into this. It's Only Smiles sounds like it could be a New Found Glory song, and I'm down with that!

After one listen it's sitting at #6 in my album rankings.

[jakepriest]

Overall a very good record. Not sure if it will top Juggernaut for me, but it's definitely a grower.

It's Only Smiles solo has to be my favourite solo the band has put out. Jake always has some tasty stuff up his sleeve.
Reptile is a great song, but once again, Mark's solo is meh at best.

Crush is easily my no. 1 so far though. This kind of style just suits Spencer really well.

[Metro]

Loving this album so far. Crush is the only thing I don't like. Every other track is extremely solid.
Spencer just gets better with every album. Matt's drumming is great, but I think PIII has a much better drum sound. The guitar playing is top notch as always, and Nolly is Nolly.
CHCRCH BVRNER gives me serious Dillinger Escape Plan vibes.
It's Only Smiles might be my favorite on the album.
Sentient Glow sounds like it could fit comfortably on PII.
Satellites is a great closer that kinda tricks you into thinking it's Lune Pt.2 but then explodes halfway through the song. Reptile is fantastic, but I'm iffy about it's placement on the album. I think Blood Eagle is a much better opener and Satellites is the perfect closer, but then idk where else you could put Reptile and still have the album flow naturally.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Hail Stan is an absolvte masterpiece. I said it.

[mikeyd23]

It's Only Smiles solo has to be my favourite solo the band has put out. Jake always has some tasty stuff up his sleeve.

Totally agree, I love Jake's solo in It's Only Smiles.

[ariich]

Really digging the album. Some of it is seriously intense, but there's also plenty of wonderfully melodic stuff too and some great catchy hooks.

[Train of Naught]

Yeah.. this album is incredible! Even better than PIII

The only songs I’m not fully behind yet are Blood Eagle (mostly awesome, but the cleans are awkward and the guitar solo is maybe the worst I’ve heard by Misha) and It’s Only Smiles (but I’m pretty sure this one will grow on me)

Reptile definitely cracked my top 3 Periphery songs, what a monstrous tune! I don’t know how to rank my top 3, but it would be Reptile, Stranger Things and Habitual Line-Stepper now.

[jakepriest]

1. Satellites
2. Crush
3. Reptile
4. It's Only Smiles
5. Sentient Glow
6. Follow Your Chost
7. Garden in the Bones
8. CHVRCH BVRNER
9. Blood Eagle

Think this is my ranking after several spins. The top 5 songs are all incredibly close and all better than anything on PIII.
Blood Eagle is just terrible tho. There's nothing in that song to save it for me except for that little riff after the guitar solo ends.

Also,

would anyone be up for a second Periphery survivor? I ran the first one back in 2015, and we've got two new albums to go over this time!

[Buddyhunter1]

would anyone be up for a second Periphery survivor? I ran the first one back in 2015, and we've got two new albums to go over this time!

I would gladly contribute my bad opinions to this

[mikeyd23]

I'm totally down for a survivor.

Oh and album ranking, because why not...

1. Satellites
2. Reptile
3. It's Only Smiles
4. Follow Your Ghost
5. Crush
6. Garden in the Bones
7. Blood Eagle
8. CHVRCH BVRNER
9. Sentient Glow

[Metro]

1. Reptile
2. It's Only Smiles
3. Satellites
4. Garden in the Bones
5. Sentient Glow
6. CHVRCH BVRNER
7. Follow Your Ghost
8. Blood Eagle
9. Crush

[TioJorge]

This album is so much better than I thought it'd be, and my expectations, while not insane, were pretty damn high. Reptile and Satellites make me want to love long, crazy prog songs again. But I think Periphery and The Contortionist are the only ones that can still make me listen with intent to songs like that. These are the first longer-ish songs that, like I said before, I've been able to not only sit all the way through but love the whole song. There's so many parts of this album that give me so many goosebumps. Haven't had that in a while with a full album, usually it's just a part of a song on the album, or a single song. This is a new level of awesomeness from the boys. I love that the name and the attitude towards it is so joking and laid back because it's clear that this has nothing but heart behind it.

I'll again refrain from the lists. The end of Reptile is currently my favorite part of the album but yesterday it was the middle to end part of Crush, the day before that it was the beginning and very end of Satellites. I still love the viciousness of Follow Your Ghost, those vocals are going to be a BITCH to do live.

[ariich]

The new album has prompted a real Periphery binge these last few days.

Juggernaut and PIII are still amazing. I really love the melodic and atmospheric approach on PIII, the main issue I have with it is the ordering - having the two heaviest songs first and then the rest of the album being quite melodic is really weird. But that's a minor gripe, it has so many amazing tunes.

And I'd really forgotten just how brilliant PII is. Damn there are some fantastic songs on here.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I still haven’t listened to P2 or Juggernaut. I should probably get on that lol

[mikeyd23]

I still haven’t listened to P2 or Juggernaut. I should probably get on that lol

Both are great!

Listened to Satellites on my way into work today, what a fantastic song. 

[TioJorge]

So yeah, I think the "Soil we own becomes us / Order back in what we know" part of Reptile miiiiight be my favorite part of Periphery history. The last half of that song is so fucking goosebump inducing, it's gorgeous and heavy and melodic all at once.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I didn't realize the first song was 16mins long. I casually put it on while browsing and after 15mins I had a glanze which song that played. 

[TioJorge]

Yeah it's out of nowhere and I love it. I think it sets up a tone and kind of makes a statement about the state the guys are in. Which to me is basically that while they're doing what they're immensely proud of and care a lot for, they also don't want to take themselves too seriously. I really think that's a huge reason why this album is so amazing and cohesive while still having so much diversity is that they're all in with their own stakes, their own reasons, they are their own bosses, it's awesome.

It's funny how quick this album goes by for me because of how concise it is and how much I'm into it.

And parts of P2 and the entirety of Juggernaut still go back and forth between my favorites, Juggernaut more so considering how cohesive that is as well and yet it's almost twice the size (well probably not considering the song times but y'know).

[Buddyhunter1]

Man, for some reason this album just isn't clicking for me at all. Songwriting-wise it feels like a big step back from III. Reptile is definitely the best song on the album, but Racecar and Omega are still the band's best epics, if you ask me. Garden In The Bones and Crush are both good, though I'll admit I edited out the weird segue out of the latter.

The rest of the album just isn't doing it for me. I really want to like Satellites in particular, but the first half of it is pretty devoid of anything likeable, and the second half doesn't do quite enough to make up for it.

Ranking-wise, I'd put it a bit below the debut album, which would make it their weakest for me, unless you count Alpha as a standalone album.

[lonestar]

Finally digging into this album, Reptile is a seriously tremendous track. So f'in good.

[Zantera]

I do think it's a great album but the fact that the best two songs (by a margin IMO) are Reptile and Satellites (aka the opener and the closer) it does deflate the middle of the album a bit. The 7 songs between aren't bad at all, I would say it's a solid run of songs, but for me it lacks maybe one or two more standouts. So for me it's kinda like the album starts and ends in a 5/5 fashion but everything between is more like 3.5/5 or 4/5 so the album overall stop at 8/10 rather than a 9.

With that said I have been revisiting the older albums and it's really hard for me to pick a favorite album by them. I know the fan picks are P2 or Juggernaut. For me P2 is really good up until after maybe Erised when I feel I zone out a little bit and the album keeps going a bit too long. It's kinda the same issue I have with Act IV by Dear Hunter, another album I find really good but then the last 3-4 songs are perhaps the weakest on the album. Juggernaut is really good but on my last few listens it just feels like Omega is a lot better than Alpha. I would say the 3 best songs on Juggernaut overall are on Omega. So as a double album it loses some punch when one half feels a lot stronger. I always felt P1 was underrated and I would say it's really strong too (especially for a debut). I think the only thing holding it back is knowing how great Spencer has become vocally since. Like if we got a rerecorded P1 with current Spencer doing the vocals I think it would take the album up a notch. P3 is very solid too imo, I would say P3 and P4 are about the same for me.

[Train of Naught]

I agree with Jake on Crush though, that one grew on me big time, might be the best song on P4! Satellites and Reptile are indeed fantastic too, Garden in the Bones is another favourite of mine and CHVRCH BVRNER comes pretty close too, it's a really fun song and I like the cute little math core run after the first chorus especially.

On the topic of their best album, really, I can't decide. The only thing I know for sure that if we separate Juggernaut, Alpha is definitely their weakest. Omega is probably their most consistent, but as a single record doesn't offer quite as much as P4, P3 and P2. P3 feels sooo underrated to me. I never fully got into P1 because:

I think the only thing holding it back is knowing how great Spencer has become vocally since.

And I 100% would be on board with the rerecorded P1 idea!!

P4 is a top 5 album of the year for sure at the moment.

[TioJorge]

I love the divide in opinions. For the most part I'm for whatever reason always on the side that dislikes whatever "it" is. But I couldn't love this album any more and I think PII might finally be dethroned.

It just flows so awesomely and perfectly to me, and for the first time in a long while I don't skip any tracks when I intend to listen to the album.

Also I kind of like the raw and more inexperienced nature of PI, it gives the album a very specific vibe and one that leads into a lot of growth for the band that a listener can actively hear. But not so much that I think a remaster would improve on any specific part that's lacking as an album.

[twosuitsluke]

So Periphery have announced a European tour with Plini and Astronoid! I'm not even the biggest Periphery fan but I'm enjoying the new album and that's a great line up, I'm sold!

[goo-goo]

The lineup absolutely destroyed Austin last night. Plini and Simon jammed for a minute or two during Reptile. Arch Echo was phenomenal. Even though I struggle (less) with the screams, but hot dang, Spencer has some pipes. I thought Mark Holcomb would show up since he lives in Austin but he didn’t. Overall, an awesome gig.

[axeman90210]

Bought a ticket for the NYC show because Plini, planning on going in blind as far as Periphery's music.

[goo-goo]

Misha just released a lot of demos and ideas from his Bulb stuff. He is planning to release several volumes.

He is also planning to release a solo album later in the year.

[goo-goo]

I stumbled upon Spencer Sotelo's solo album Endur - American Parasite. Holy shit! There's is some pretty good stuff in it. I've also been hooked with Nik Mystery (another Sotelo project) with a more 80s synth vibe. Spencer has a great voice and he is all over the place as far as styles go.

Does anybody have the Endur American Parasite CD by any chance? Seems like it was a limited run since I can't find it anywhere.

[TioJorge]

It's awesome! Periphery with a bit more tech hooks and beats. I love it. I still really want a fusion of Spencer's vocals and Jake's tech beats. Singularly. Just those two. They'd make a fucking awesome album.

But this is great. I love Spencer's voice and he shines here as much as he does in Periphery but it's SOOO reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails type vibe.

[Revenge319]

If I were to get into this band for the first time, should I start from the beginning, or is there a specific album I should listen to first?

[fadetoblackdude7]

If I were to get into this band for the first time, should I start from the beginning, or is there a specific album I should listen to first?

I think most people would tell you to start with P2 or the Juggernaut albums. I personally like the newer albums more, I think the songwriting is superior and more mature. But all their albums are good!

[Buddyhunter1]

P2, definitely.

[TioJorge]

I concur.