This Time It’s Personal! Periphery II Review

My metal brothers and sisters, I bring you something new in the metal world: Djent! Now I know when you all hear Djent, you probably think about Meshuggah and very strange time signatures in the music. Yes they set the grounds for this genre, but there is another name out there who is perfecting this genre. Periphery! Releasing their second album, Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal, the band performs one of the hardest genres in metal and perfects it. Der Metal Krieger had the opportunity to review this masterpiece.

Band: Periphery
Album: Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal
Genre: Djent/Progressive Metal
Label: Sumerian Records
Release Date:  July 3 2012

Periphery released another amazing album as a follow up to their 2010 self-titled album. I must say that Periphery has produced another great album, which fans will appreciate greatly. A song in particular is the track MAKE TOTAL DESTROY. The technical guitars and drums are what make this song so unique. They play in interesting time signatures, giving it the progressive edge. But on top of that, Spencer (vocals) will mix up clean singing with growls, giving this song a heavy feel at times. This track is a great way to be introduced to this band, if it is the first time you have ever listened to them.

Another great track off of this album is the much heavier, Facepalm Mute. This track is one of the heaviest off of this album. This track is a personal favorite of mine, and definitely shows that Periphery has a much heavier side that tends to peak it’s head out once in a while. And this wouldn’t be Periphery without the technical guitar work!
This song displays their dedication to producing such hard hitting, and addicting music. Once you hear how this band performs (especially this song) you’ll be hooked!

This album may actually beat the first album. Both albums are heavy, technical, and unique. However, Spencer’s vocals in this seem to have a much better range. His clean vocals seem to have more diversity than the first album. The instruments on both albums definitely can hold their own, as the music on both albums are unique in their own way.  Periphery II just has something about that makes it an even more acclaimed album. You have a song like Scarlet on Periphery II, which sounds like something different than the band has ever wrote. Instead of using the Meshuggah-like timings, this song follows something similar to Dream Theater, giving it a more progressive metal type of sound. Periphery just keeps pushing it to the limits!

Periphery II is definitely one of the most interesting albums of the year! The band is at the forefront of the Djent movement, and will be a name remembered in heavy metal history. This band is backed by some  of the best players to ever set foot in the genre, and they are leaving a good impression on fans. Never seen these guys perform live? Well why not picking up some tickets for Summer Slaughter? Periphery is taking part in the most brutal tour of the year.  Check them out at a venue near you, and heat some of the new tunes live. Their performance is one that will be remembered, as the album is one that will be mentioned in the discussion of the Djent movement. After all, this time it’s personal!

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