Periphery - Periphery (2010)
Ah, I think it was early 2011 when a good friend of mine showed me the redone version "Jetpacks Was Yes!" on MSN Messenger, and judging from the name of the song and band, I thought it was going to be some We Were Promised Jetpacks indie bullshit, and even though it wasn't, I just didn't care about it at all for some reason. It wasn't until months later that I saw the douchebags on SevenString jerking off and trying to verbally molest guitarist Misha 'Bulb' Mansoor that I realized "hey, these dumbasses might have banned me for talking shit about Korn when they were talking shit about other metal bands, so they're pretty passionate about nu-metal, but maybe I oughta give this a try" and so I grabbed this album and my life for the next year was never the fucking same. I was -OBSESSED- with this band. I mean it: I had EVERYTHING. I had all of the demos, all of the instrumentals, I knew as much as I could about the band members, it was some real Stan-esque shit. You couldn't even possibly begin to tell me that they suck, because you just "didn't get it" and fuck you. For a while, I truly believed them to be the best band in the entire fucking world. Truth be told, they're not, but this album is still pretty fucking great.
"B-But Kenny, Periphery seems like the type of shit you make fun of-" MOTHERFUCKER, IT IS!! This is the -EXACT- shit I like to make fun of! However, these dudes have these long, epic songs about Greek myths and shit, which I'd normally shit on, but it fucking WORKS. The instrumentals are nothing less than fucking heavy as shit and beautiful in their own regard, and they're masterfully produced which really adds to the OOMPH to such classic riffs as in "Icarus Lives!", "The Walk" and "Letter Experiment", and generally this band just sounds -really- fucking good on an instrumental standpoint to where listening to the instrumental version of this album is just as much of a great musical journey as listening to the regular version is. If you listen to the regular, you get GREAT progressive metalcore songs, but if you listen to the original instrumental versions, even your "classic rock is life" stepdad will be bowing the fuck down to the music on here because "Buttersnips" has such a great instrumental bridge that it'll have you both shitting out of your dicks at lightning speed. Since this album's compositions were mainly crafted by guitarist Misha 'Bulb' Mansoor over the course of years, these songs are really fleshed out, bang like motherfuckers, and have great audio dynamics that really make the more beautiful, emotional moments jump out of your stereo to infest your room with their dream-like atmospheres, perfectly complimented by electronic instrumental interludes provided by guitarist Jake Bowen that really help the songs flow into each other in a way that gives you a moment to breathe, makes sense, and actually adds to the songs as memorable moments that are very much worth your attention. One thing that's kinda funny is that this entire album, instrumentally, was recorded previously with their previous vocalist Chris Barretto, but then guitarist Misha 'Bulb' Mansoor learned some new production techniques and made everyone re-record the album instrumentally. If that doesn't show his dedication to making sure his shit sounds good, I don't know what does.
Speaking of vocalists, let's talk about current vocalist Spencer Sotelo on this album. Truth be told.. At the time of recording this album, he wasn't the best vocalist for this kind of music, but he makes it work. His clean vocals can be kinda scratchy and strained, making some moments feel a bit weaker than they should, but at the same time, it really gives off the feeling that he's putting everything he physically can into the music, which really helps with the more emotional moments on this album. His harsh vocals are pretty good for a guy who apparently never screamed in music before recording this album, and kinda remind me of Randy Blythe on older Lamb of God material, so I never really understood the hate for his harsh vocals on this album, and trust me, there was a lot. You may know Spencer Sotelo as a vocal-God now, but this was a little bit of a rough beginning. Regardless, I think he fits the music on this album pretty well, despite not sounding even half as great as he'd go on to sound. Makes me kinda wish they'd re-record this album vocally, to be honest with you, and it's really the only thing keeping me from giving it a 10/10.
This album has a lot to say, maybe not lyrically, but instrumentally. If you listen to a lot of their demos, you can tell that this album was made using quite a bit of quality control, and it shows: This is the best of the best of what Periphery had to offer way back when with God knows how many demos under their belts. This stands tall as a progressive metal album that aims to take you on a journey, a metalcore album that aims to get you in the pit, and an emo album to get you lost in your feelings from not the lyrics, but the sound of the music and the emotional delivery of said lyrics. It's hard to explain. Either way, this album made 17 year old Kenny lose his fucking mind, and makes however-fucking-old-I-am Kenny say "you know what? that was great" so you're really fucking up if you don't give this a listen. You'll find (if you don't get annihilated by the brutality of the opening track's riffs) that this album is full of nonstop memorable songs, not only for the band, but for the genre as a whole. So damn close to being a complete masterpiece, but just -barely- out of reach, and as the 15 minute long, epic as fuck finale "Racecar" fades out, you'll be wishing every album could end just as satisfactory. Life is but a dream, and Periphery's music floats like a feather in the air in the background. Does that metaphor imply that their music is good or bad? I don't even fucking know, man.
9/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
