The Periphery Thread

[BlackInk]

PI has the best individual songs, PII has the best vocal performance by Spencer, and Juggernaut has the best production as well as being the best album as a whole. Just something I thought of as a PII-song came on shuffle just now.

[Zantera]

I think Spencer sings better on Juggernaut than P2 tbh.

[Ben_Jamin]

I believe I'm one of the very few whom loves Froggin' Bullfish.

[BlackInk]

I think Spencer sings better on Juggernaut than P2 tbh.

I don't know. I mean, I think he is awesome on Juggernaut. His cleans are about the same, but his screams have more force to them on PII.

[ariich]

I think Spencer sings better on Juggernaut than P2 tbh.

Agreed, I think he's got better with each album.

[Dark Castle]

I think Spencer sings better on Juggernaut than P2 tbh.

I don't know. I mean, I think he is awesome on Juggernaut. His cleans are about the same, but his screams have more force to them on PII.

I'd disagree, if anything his screams have gotten even better than before.

[Buddyhunter1]

I believe I'm one of the very few whom loves Froggin' Bullfish.

I'm not a big fan of it overall, but it's got a freaking amazing chorus.
That's what I love about PII. Even the songs that aren't great still have something that makes them special, be it an awesome chorus, riff, melody, etc. For example, I don't like Ji as much as most people, but that "rhythm guitar solo" is absolutely brilliant.

[Dark Castle]

I believe I'm one of the very few whom loves Froggin' Bullfish.

You aren't alone man, that song is insane!

[Mindflux]

Loving these. Will never ever be a fan of the screaming/death growls.. but when Spencer does his normal thing it's boss.

[OsMosis2259]

Really loving the new album. Gets better the more I listen to it 

[Jaq]

Picked up the Juggernauts this week, and they're definitely a case of where there's so much going on, you have to give them multiple listens for it all to click. Haven't a bloody clue what the story is, but Periphery's becoming to me the band that's finding new and interesting things to do with progressive metal, much like Between the Buried and Me were back with Colors. 

[Mosh]

The Juggernauts are definitely growers. I love how the reprises and such have slowly been revealing themselves to me. Don't know if I'd compare them to BTBAM, the music is still pretty standard djent for the most part but they're definitely getting a bit more adventurous. I'd like to see them continue to take risks and make a really progressive and innovative album. They definitely have it in them I think.

[Jaq]

They're not like BTBAM to me, they're just the band that's taking off from a subgenre of metal (metalcore in BTBAM's case, djent in Periphery's) and using that to make interesting progressive metal for this decade so far like BTBAM was for the previous one.

[Crow]

Yeah I've listened to them a few times and liked them more each time, there's just so much stuff here it's hard to take it. Very pleased though so far.

[Mosh]

They're not like BTBAM to me, they're just the band that's taking off from a subgenre of metal (metalcore in BTBAM's case, djent in Periphery's) and using that to make interesting progressive metal for this decade so far like BTBAM was for the previous one.

Yea that's true. I would like to see Periphery be even more adventurous though. They have their moments of it but I think there's a lot of uncharted territory still. They're going in the right direction for sure though.

[BlackInk]

The connecting musical themes are really fun to hear. Especially when discovering an almost hidden one, that's cool. Like, it took me until last week to notice the faint sound of the outro guitar thing from A Black Minute playing beneath the chorus in Graveless. That was fun first time hearing it.

[Kotowboy]

For people that like Periphery - have you heard Monuments ?

They're pretty good too.

[BlackInk]

I have, their new album is pretty cool. But it also gets quickly boring since it's 100% djent riffing, all the time, which makes all the tracks sound the same.

[ariich]

Haven't heard Monuments' newest album, but I wasn't particularly excited by their first. And from what BlackInk says, it sounds like I won't be thrilled by the new one either.

[Kotowboy]

I have, their new album is pretty cool. But it also gets quickly boring since it's 100% djent riffing, all the time, which makes all the tracks sound the same.

Exactly why i'm not really a fan of the genre.

Far too samey for me. It must be the most boring job in the world playing "live" ( i.e. to a click track ) to those songs.

I have a friend in one of these bands and their drummer once said that sometimes he forgets which song he's playing as they're all so similar.

[ariich]

I have, their new album is pretty cool. But it also gets quickly boring since it's 100% djent riffing, all the time, which makes all the tracks sound the same.

Exactly why i'm not really a fan of the genre.

Far too samey for me. It must be the most boring job in the world playing "live" ( i.e. to a click track ) to those songs.

I have a friend in one of these bands and their drummer once said that sometimes he forgets which song he's playing as they're all so similar.

Well I think the problem there is the quality of those bands, rather than the genre. The same could happen in almost any genre (thrash metal - lots of palm-muted songs in E; punk rock - lots of similar sounding songs with the same chords).

A genre doesn't define whether something is interesting musically - the musicians still need to write interesting music or it will get boring regardless of what style it's in.

[Zantera]

Periphery really is an exception for me, because with most bands when they go djent, it kills it for me. I can't stand bands like Tesseract or Animals as Leaders, but Periphery is a different beast. They have a really nice variety in their music, and for some reason it just resonates. Juggernaut is the best they have done IMO, and it's nice to see them on an upward trajectory.

[ariich]

Tesseract are fantastic as well (at least Altered State was). AAL I agree about though, nice stuff but gets monotonous after a while.

[BlackInk]

Tesseract are fantastic as well (at least Altered State was). AAL I agree about though, nice stuff but gets monotonous after a while.

Pretty much this, although while I really like Altered State, I absolutely adore TesseracT's album One. I can't listen to AaL, my friend described it as 'it sounds like all the songs are just different guitar technique exercises', which I thought was perfect.

There are so terribly many djent bands these days, but Periphery, TesseracT, and Meshuggah are the only ones I find truly interesting, and has really proven to me that when it's done well, it's one of the coolest genres of metal. Skyharbor too I guess, if that counts, but I don't really see them as a djent band, and I don't like them as much as the others.

[aprilethereal]

So I finally decided to give Periphery a real try and ordered Periphery II and Clear. Hopefully they'll arrive this week.

[ariich]

Clear is alright, Periphery II is a lot better though. But Juggernaut blows everything else they've done out of the water IMO. I definitely see it as THE modern djent-led metal album right now.

[OsMosis2259]

Yeah Clear was more of an experiment anyway. I wouldn't decide an opinion of Periphery after listening to Clear.

Juggernaut is fantastic!

I also agree that Tesseract's Altered State was another unique approach to the genre and the band has a lot of variety. I loved Ashe's vocals and he was a big reason why Altered State turned out to be amazing. I'm definitely also curious to see how Dan Tompkins will approach the vocals this time.   

[BlackInk]

Clear didn't really do it for me. My favorite track on there is The Parade of Ashes, and I don't even consider that to be a real Periphery song.

But how about you guys' favorite/least favorite from their releases? Mine are:

Favorite:
Periphery - Racecar
Icarus EP - Eureka
Periphery II - Ragnarok
Clear - The Parade of Ashes
Juggernaut: Alpha - Psychosphere
Juggernaut: Omega - Stranger Things

Least favorite:
Periphery - Passenger / or if that doesn't count, The Walk
Icarus EP - Icarus Lives! EP Edition (not even counting the remixes)
Periphery II - Scarlet
Clear - Overture
Juggernaut: Alpha - The Event, or Four Lights if The Event is too much of a cop out
Juggernaut: Omega - Reprise, or Graveless for the same reason as above

[ariich]

Wow, Scarlet is your least favourite? That's one of my favourites on PII.

[BlackInk]

Wow, Scarlet is your least favourite? That's one of my favourites on PII.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Haunted Shores songs turned into Periphery songs, which Passengers also is. I still listen to Scarlet from time to time, and the music video is really fun, but it's too upbeat and not-like-periphery for me to like over the others.

[RandalGraves]

I'm happy to see a lot of people enjoying Juggernaut, if only because it hasn't clicked for me.  There are parts I like but I haven't been able to grasp the "whole", if you will.  Probably because I've been listening to it while jogging and concentrating more on not dying (I'm far from athletic).

For me, the band has been great since PII (sorry, couldn't get into the first one) because of their blend of styles.  They're not the best at any one musical category, but the blend so many together that it's really unique.  That's what drew me to the band.

And for what it's worth, I really like Clear.  I thought that was a fun experiment.  The perfect way to take advantage of an EP.

[aprilethereal]

I also agree that Tesseract's Altered State was another unique approach to the genre and the band has a lot of variety. I loved Ashe's vocals and he was a big reason why Altered State turned out to be amazing. I'm definitely also curious to see how Dan Tompkins will approach the vocals this time.

Listen to the latest Skyharbor album, Dan's vocals on there are simply amazing. I think he's alright on the first Tesseract album, but if his performance on the next Tesseract album will be as great as on the latest Skyharbor,  then I don't think I'll miss Ashe all that much. And I love Ashe's vocals and think they are one of the major aspects that make Altered State such a great album.

From what I've listened to so far, the Periphery II songs stand out a little more to me than the ones from Clear, but I'm extremely excited for both

[ariich]

Wow, Scarlet is your least favourite? That's one of my favourites on PII.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Haunted Shores songs turned into Periphery songs, which Passengers also is. I still listen to Scarlet from time to time, and the music video is really fun, but it's too upbeat and not-like-periphery for me to like over the others.

I don't know what any of this means.

[BlackInk]

'Haunted Shores' is a side project by Mark and Misha. Sometimes they take songs from that project and turn them into Periphery songs, Passenger and Scarlet are the two they've done that with so far.

[OsMosis2259]

I also agree that Tesseract's Altered State was another unique approach to the genre and the band has a lot of variety. I loved Ashe's vocals and he was a big reason why Altered State turned out to be amazing. I'm definitely also curious to see how Dan Tompkins will approach the vocals this time.

Listen to the latest Skyharbor album, Dan's vocals on there are simply amazing. I think he's alright on the first Tesseract album, but if his performance on the next Tesseract album will be as great as on the latest Skyharbor,  then I don't think I'll miss Ashe all that much. And I love Ashe's vocals and think they are one of the major aspects that make Altered State such a great album.

Oh yeah! I listened to the latest Skyharbor album which is why I'm very curious to see how Dan will approach the vocals in Tesseract this time 

Honestly, both Ashe and Dan are incredible vocalists. As long as they are always releasing music, we are good!
Ashe is currently recording with Voices From The Fuselage so we'll most likely get a release from both them and Tesseract this year!