This basically reassures me that if they dropped Spencer and Jake, and just focused on Misha, Nolly, and Mark writing the best riffs and grooves they could, Periphery would be an incredible band. But alas, that is not the case.
no hate intended, Periphery is alright. They just have potential to be so much better.
Track ranking: (1-3 being god-tier, 4-6 being shit-tier)
1. Extraneous
2. Pale Aura
3. Zero
4. The Summer Jam
5. The Parade of Ashes
6. Feed The Ground
To me, if only Misha was writing, we would have Periphery I again. Which in my view is a collection of pushed together riffs, without much thought to anything else. I love Periphery II much more as the whole band was there for some of it, and the songs work much better as actual songs. Periphery I goes in a 100 different directions IMO, and Nolly's and Misha's songs on Clear are more of the same to me.
I love diverse riffs and not always being too simple, but if it's too over the place, it's easy to get lost I feel. I cannot remember much about Misha and Nolly's songs, maybe besides the now stock Meshuggah-esque single note octave riffs.
Having, as Jake said in the trailer for the EP, 6 writers in the band is cool, and I feel balances everything out. I wouldn't want an album full of Matt, Jake and Spencer's stuff. But I certainly wouldn't be too thrilled with 100% Misha and Nolly (in style, I view his track as very close to Misha)… that is Periphery I to me.