Periphery - Periphery - Review

As it stands, Sumerian Records has become armed with some of the most unique metal bands of the present, including Veil of Maya, After the Burial, and Born of Osiris. Each of these bands build up a special, glittering sub section of technical metal, mastering the art of polyrhythms and displaying some of the best instrumental professionalism our favourite genre of music has ever seen. In the corner of our vision, in our “peripheral”, another band of similar stylings has been looming about. Periphery. The Bethesda, Maryland group is a sort of enigma. They have seemingly recorded over one hundred tracks over the last x number of years shared with a second, related artist called Bulb, and state on their MySpace page that they are “a shirt company that also makes music.” Beyond that they have had extensive trouble holding down a lead vocalist, resulting in the postponing of their debut album on several occasions. But after splitting ways with three vocalists and a drummer, they finally nailed down a lineup that everyone agrees with, installing Matt Halpern and Spencer Sotelo in their current positions as drummer and lead vocalist, respectively. Thanks to ideal circumstances for the first time ever, and a one album contract with Sumerian Records, Periphery has finally come to release a full length album, consisting of new and previously released tracks.

The self titled masterpiece opens up with “Insomnia”, raking your face almost immediately with brutal off time chugging. Then we hear for the first time on signed media, Spencer Sotelo in place of lead vocals. He takes his entrance with a gravelly mid range scream. It is acceptable, by all means entertaining, but most importantly, it fits the music so perfectly it makes me want to weep. To no one’s surprise, he quickly transitions to his version of clean vocals. They are very unique, lightly raspy when singing basic range tones, almost with an electronic tinge at times. But in his vast vocal range, his voice soars periodically to smooth, angelic highs, reaching near falsetto that harmonizes just wonderfully with the sporadic melodies of the guitars.

A crushing introduction to “The Walk” only nearly kicks a fissure into your brain. Bent chords followed by impeccably tight machine gun riffs, followed by haunting melodies that just shouldn’t make sense. I would never have guessed that these kinds of tones could be mixed to sound so epic. And oh! the drums. Every piece is tuned to perfection; the kick, the snare, even the cymbals are at the perfect levels. The easiest thing to get wrong has no flaws to name. And like the mint on the pillow, they’re even played creatively. Drummer Matt Halpern finds a very exclusive niche of creativity and expertise that suits the music the more attention you give it.

You find out very quickly that nothing happens twice in Periphery’s music. Not only is their style shared by no other other band, but each song on the album is streamlined to fly on its own. “Letter Experiment” stands strong alongside every other track. With three guitarists (that’s not counting bassist Tom Murphy), you get to here just about every area of variety available. The lead, lead guitar from Misha “Bulb” Mansoor honestly holds a whole new title of working the strings. If he isn’t creating brain-wrinkling chords that harmonize unbelievably, then he is probably tapping out outstanding solos that no one really, fully appreciates because they are never alone. Each tapping match and “solo” is accompanied by an entirely separate onslaught from guitarists Alex Bois and Jake Bowen that could rightly hold up the track on its own. The workmanship that Mansoor imbeds into his playing is the same he uses for his solo project, Bulb, which preceded Periphery altogether.

At four minutes, the shortest track, “Jetpacks Was Yes!” takes the albums first trip into a relatively milder track. Although the main difference is really just the exclusion of the menacing element that presides over most of the other tracks. This time around the desired effect is beauty. Ripe with soothing guitar harmonies and almost exclusively clean vocals, it is most like a dip in crystal clear water before jumping back into the muddy ball pit that was so much fun a second ago. “Light” is only a small step back into the intensity trench. Washy guitar tweadling and absolutely delicious clean singing fuels much of the track, only taking short lapses back onto the heavier side. Appropriately titled, it probably is one of the most beautiful and bright tracks on the album, but not by much.

After ending “Light” with a mellow, mousy techno party, flowery guitars flow through “All New Materials”. The pretty party is headlined by a laid back tempo riddled with momentary, guitar exclusive rises in tempo and then takes a final minute to clear the air with some more techno and dozing-off music. Oddly enough, there are no isolated breakdowns in this whole album, but a little attention reveals that many of the underlying beats are, in fact, played as breakdowns. “Buttersnips” seems to be dead set on stressing the skill at which Periphery transitions between mind-bending, heavy inlays and feather light, high toned pretty sections.

Now clear your sinuses for “Icarus Lives!” This is by far one of the best songs on the album, by originality and showmanship. You can see where the recent “djent” genre comes from, hearing one of its founding inventors work away with ease. Mansoor makes liberal use of the polyrhythmic drums and ethereal vocals by wrapping his own brand of distorted staccato riffs all around them, creating a sound you cannot understand fully even when hearing it. Especially excited drums and erratic tapping work through “Totala Mad” make it one of the most consistently awesome songs all the way through. This is followed by “Ow My Feelings”, which is faintly more relaxed, considering previous tracks. It’s ruled by a lot of dirty, off time guitars and vocals that seem to almost be telling a story. The majority of the song is led by a distinctive, highly unique drum beat that the guitars follow loyally, chords bending at every turn.

Mansoor creates magic in “Zyglrox”. Honestly, I’m beginning to doubt that he is even human. The beginning of the track will make you wet yourself or your money back. Jaw plummeting tapping and suspiciously clean drums that follow boggle the mind. I was panting by the time Sotelo’s scream dropped into the field of growls. It’s a long haul, but if you haven’t collapse and imploded from a pleasure heart attack at this point, you’ve got one more fifteen minute “Racecar” to enjoy. That’s right, fifteen minutes, no hidden track, no weepy interlude of soft guitars for ten minutes, just pure concentrated happiness for fifteen minutes straight. If the time is given, this is a very enjoyable track all the way through. It somehow never gets tiring or unimaginative.

Holy crap, this is a 72 minute album. It’s hard to listen to all at once, but that’s all right, as each track is an adventure of its own. Pick one and enjoy. Each one has its own appeal, it seems. At a very critical stand point, Periphery did everything right with this album. Every member is at a height most musicians only dream of, and it’s recorded nearly perfectly, with each instrument at the perfect level. Including the length and the originality, the only problem seems to be that there is too much to listen to at once. But I’m not going to complain about that. This album either has no flaws or I was too mesmerized by awesomeness to hear them. I think that contradicts itself, though.

Maybe the skeptically trained ear can find some minor detail wrong with it, but I’d like to see them make use of it while their face is being mauled by Misha “ The Electric Light Bulb” Mansoor’s inhuman shredding. You have to either not be into metal at all or hate life entirely to not enjoy this album. From me it gets 5 out of 5 Napkins, with my blessing.

Artist: Periphery
Album: Periphery
Release: April 20, 2010
Label: Sumerian Records
Length: 12 Tracks: 72 minutes, 39 seconds
Rating: 5/5