A couple of
years ago, while I was in college, a friend of mine insisted I come listen to
something. “Check out this guitar intro,” he said, starting the YouTube video.
“It’s so dirty.” The opening notes to “Icarus Lives!” by Periphery leaked
through the speakers, and when the beat dropped, my eyes widened. Immediately,
I knew that “dirty” was the only word to accurately capture the sounds shaking
the table beneath the laptop. The heavy yet melodic composition along with the
precise polyrhythms impressed me, and a few years later, when I came across
their debut record, I decided it was certainly time to find out just how
“dirty” Periphery could be.
Within thirty
seconds of popping that CD into my car stereo, I realized that Periphery’s
self-titled debut record is HEAVY. Between low drop tunings, seven-string
guitars, frothing distortion, and a thunderous bass drum, this record sounds
like it weighs a couple hundred tons. Matt Halpern’s kit explodes with each
hit, and Tom Murphy’s bass is surprisingly full underneat the onslaught of the
guitars. And whereas most string sections stop at three members, this band
sports four; taking a card from the Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd decks and tuning
it down three octaves, guitarists Misha Mansoor, Alex Bois and Jake Bowen all
ride their low strings almost religiously, creating chugs so deep that only
giant squid are able to hear them. With the low end section filled to the brim,
one might expect the higher end to be all but missing, Periphery deploys their
guitarists in such a way that someone is always covering the treble section.
Furthermore, to break up the djent onslaught, the band inserts small vignettes
between their tunes, using bright guitars and programmed beats to lighten the
mood before they plunge it into the abyss.
Anyone who
spends a few moments with this record would agree that the musicians in this band
are undeniably talented, and the composition on Periphery unrelentingly reflects this. Almost all riffs are
constructed on complicated polyrhythms, most of which extend over multiple
measures before reaching their repeat point. And because that’s obviously not
complex enough, they paste these rhythms over a myriad of time signatures, and
often switch between them mid-song—the fifteen-minute juggernaut “Racecar”
features 16 time signature changes, and that’s not counting the many riffs that
tack on an extra beat at the end before repeating. Of course, all this might
make Periphery sound like undercover inhuman robots, but vocalist Spencer
Sotelo’s soaring melodies and heady screams guide the compositions into more
palatable territory, utilizing simple but interesting melodies to keep
interested even those wholly unfamiliar with music as heavy as djent. All in
all, Periphery presents a full musical set-up that has a lot going for it, and
leaves a lot behind in the listener’s ears and mind.
An excellent
example of Periphery’s mix of heavy and catchy is the song that got me hooked,
“Icarus Lives!” Opening with that dirty and delirious guitar riff, this tune
kicks off in typical djent style, writhing with heavy palm-muted chords and
bass beats, yet the guitar trio also weaves in sections of light chords and
clean picking. Similarly, Spencer Sotelo alternates between soaring melodies
and throaty shouting, beginning the chorus by singing the line “I’m neither
angel nor a demon spawn” before blending into screams with lines like “Though
some will call me god / Gravity is just a law I’ve wrought.” The lyrical
imagery is extremely poetic, as spinning imagery of flight with an air of
complete arrogance, with the speaker declaring that he will “never kneel again”
because flight is his “nocturnal right.”[1]
“Icarus Lives!” captures every facet of the myth after which it is named,
expressing both blissful excitement and brutal hubris through complex
composition that simultaneously uplifts the listener as it forces their head to
explode.
Although
released in 2010, Periphery is a
record with a long and elaborate history, having gone through five years and
multiple lineup changes before it became an actual thing. In an interview with Metal Sucks, Misha stated that Periphery
had been “planning on putting out this album since at least the end of 2005 or
early 2006….It’s kind of crazy.”[2] Both the amount of time and the changing
of hands has allowed many former musicians to leave their imprint on the
record, especially the lyrics. Though Spencer expertly fills the roles of
vocalist and frontman on the album, these are positions that he inherited
shortly before the album was released, and so he had little time to truly
customize the compositions for himself. As such, all of the lyrics and most of
the melodies that he sings were actually written by former lead singers Casey
Sabol and Chris Barretto, and include contributions from the rest of the band
as well.[3]
In any other
situation, trading off this responsibility over the course of three different
people would result in utter disaster, since there is no way these disconnected
singers can fully realize what the other was trying to say. Yet surprisingly, Periphery lacks this bedlam and
insanity, and truly feels like a unified record instead of a pile of songs,
possibly because almost all the tunes explore similar themes with their lyrics.
Classical mythology is embedded in many of the tunes: “Icarus Lives!” takes on
the form of Icarus as he flies, while “Letter Experiment” paints the scene of
Charon ferrying souls across the river Styx. Along a similar vein, other songs
wade through philosophical territory regarding life and death: “Ow My Feelings”
seems to imagine the first steps into the afterlife, “Zyglrox” describes the
onset of true enlightenment, and “All New Materials” postulates the concept of
reincarnation. Though it would appear
every member of Periphery, past and present, had some hand in the creation of
the lyrics, the unity of theme and thought that is apparently present suggests
that these musicians are all linked in their inspiration, making this record
read like a manuscript penned by a hive mind.
One tune that
interrogates this theme of philosophical thinking is “The Walk,” an epic
examination of humanity’s confusing quest for spiritual enlightenment. Opening
with a disgustingly heavy guitar riff, which somehow only gets heavier as the
song progresses, “The Walk” tears apart the mess of theological and
philosophical views on the meaning of life. The band rips through polyrhythmic
chugs as Spencer bellows of “the uncertainty of my existence…decided by choice
of a path I must walk.” He explores the possibility of higher intelligence with
the line “Reach for the light / Feel the hand of God,” before remarking on the
possibility that God is simply a manmade construct with the line “Born of
nothing / My thoughts are unconditional.” Furthermore, the lyrics go on to
suggest that the pursuit of the afterlife can prevent us from experiencing this
existence: “Higher / Searching for the light / We leave this world behind.” Between
palm-muted chords and soaring solos, “The Walk” dissects the drive of humanity
to continue living, concluding that whether we “bow down to the gods / or keep
walking further,” true enlightenment will one day find us all.[4]
Though my review of this record has been solidly positive thus far, Periphery is not without its weaknesses. Matt Halpern grossly under-deploys both his high hats and his ride cymbal, choosing instead to beat his crashes to death (possibly because he recorded using an electric kit and midi patches)[5], and his bass drum seems stuck to the guitar without a hint of improvisation or flourish. Obviously, this band’s sound thrives through its technicality, and so much so that, unless you are both a musician and good at math, you may find yourself completely lost in the strange syncopation and accents that each riff bears. This constant of brain-driven riffing carries over into almost every tune, making some pieces hard to distinguish and even harder to follow, which unfortunately allows whole sections of the record to blur together. Truthfully, even after a month of spinning this CD nonstop, it is a trial to distinguish “Totla Mad,” “Ow My Feelings,” and “Zyglrox,” as all three are steeped in low tunings, dissonant chugs, and speed-metal drumming.
Periphery may have its flaws, but all told it is
a very solid and very “dirty” record. It’s hard not to be impressed by the
impeccable musicianship, and the production is absolutely flawless for
something that was recorded, mixed, and assembled all in Misha’s bedroom. Yet
even more apparent is the fact that, despite countless line-up changes and
hours of grueling work, Periphery had a ton of fun making this record. Between
goofy song titles like “Jetpacks Was Yes!” and the hidden commercial after
“Icarus Lives!,” this band’s sense of humor is just as present as their drive
to succeed. One listen will let you know that Periphery is working towards
success, but without compromising their own ideals and personalities, because
as Misha puts it, “If we really cared about fame or fortune, we wouldn’t be
playing fucking progressive metal.”[6]
This honesty gives Periphery a
refreshing sound that resonates and remains, proving that dedication to one’s
goals and oneself can truly result in fascinating and incredible things.
1) The Walk
2) Icarus Lives!
3) Letter Experiment
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