Periphery - Clear (2014)
Before I listened to this for the first time, I told my friends "ey, shut the fuck up, I'm gonna go listen to the new Periphery EP" and locked myself in a motel room, keep in mind that I was already staying there, but still, and turned it on. I was pretty excited for this EP because Periphery could do no wrong, and the concept of it fascinated me so much: The band had just gone on tour with Deftones, and Deftones' guitarist (Stephen Carpenter) was bouncing ideas off of them, and one of the ones he gave them, since he couldn't see it working with his band (which is an absolute fucking shame) is to do an EP where each track is entirely composed by only one member, even though Spencer Sotelo sings on all but three tracks, which are instrumental, but have it alternate, so essentially everyone in the band gets a track that they completely compose and control: If the other members have a problem with the track, fuck 'em, because it's coming out exactly how you want it to. It's a great concept, but damn, Deftones should've done it regardless given the many different influences each individual member brings to their music. The fact that they didn't do it, and STILL haven't done anything similar is a fucking crime.
One thing you'll notice when listening to this EP is that everyone's writing style isn't -that- far removed from each other.. Don't come into here thinking someone's going to bring some jazz or some shit into the mix, because the most you'll really get out of it that's a whole lot different than the normal fare is Spencer Sotelo's "The Parade of Ashes" which has a lot of industrial influence, and Jake Bowen's "The Summer Jam" being pretty poppy, living up to its name, and sure, the chorus in "Feed the Ground" sounds like it'd fit on the soundtrack of some PS2 Nascar game, but regardless, they don't sound -that- different than what Periphery normally does, just more to-the-point. of all of that, this is pretty solid beginning to end as a fun, catchy EP that sees the band trying something new, and even if it doesn't entirely work out the way that you'd probably expect, it's still pretty damn entertaining, and serves as a great little snack while you (probably were) waiting for the next album. I wish more bands would try to use this concept, I doubt it'd ever really get boring, yeah? But then again, I'm not always the most easily-bored: I can sit and rearrange my music library for hours!! Can you believe I lost my virginity at 20?!
8/10
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