Periphery
Juggernaut: Alpha
Juggernaut: Omega
(Sumerian Records)
(Since Periphery’s last album was personal, this review is going to be more subjective than our regularly scheduled programming. We promise that this time, and only this time, it’s personal.)
Periphery’s sophomore album Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal is one of my favorite records of the past five years. It showcased a band who was more comfortable expanding its horizons and doing more than playing really tight, choppy progressive metal with scene-core style vocals. Sure, I missed the Periffery (pun intended) of old, but these gentlemen seemed to understand how to incorporate their riff-ability within the context of dynamic, impressive songs, which took the band to a whole new level. It’s one of those records that no matter what I’m doing, I can’t just listen to one song out of order; once I start, all of II is jammed.
Because of this personal connection, I was undoubtedly anticipating this new, generous dish of a double album, Juggernaut. Through a few listens, the album felt uneven. Man, “22 Faces” is a destroyer of worlds, with a chorus that gets better with every repetition. It’s just not fair how damn catchy the track is, even if it may be one of the most technical songs the band has ever done. “Graveless” feels like a lost banger from the band’s debut, complete with one of Spencer’s best vocal hooks. Oh, and that lush solo is killer. That said, the album as a whole didn’t quite click; it felt incomplete and uneven, showcasing some of the best elements of the Periphery’s career mixed with some simply good tracks.
Then, it hit me; whatever it was, it was massive, almost like a, well, something huge. I can’t attest to how many listens it took, but I felt like I owed it to the band who wrote a personal favorite. It feels weird because it’s really two albums (silly technicalities), but Juggernaut is really one long album and not a series of unrelated songs. Some of the songs that seemed out of place felt so important. You don’t feel the punishment of “MK Ultra” without the soothing extended intro from “A Black Minute”. “Hell Below” is an insane track, but it actually makes sense sandwiched between “Graveless” and “Omega”. “Stranger Things” feels like a perfect closing act to this sincerely extended play. The number of musical and lyrical callbacks among the tracks is numerous. It’s clear the band ran wild with these Easter eggs, none more enjoyable than the playfulness between the two title tracks, “Alpha” and “Omega”.
It’s not a “perfect” album, in the sense that I wish drummer Matt Halpern were allowed to go full-on Animal a bit more, but fear not; Matt’s drum-work is still top-notch. Plus, it’s difficult to not fault a band who dares to write a challenging double album when the rest of the world is interested in lyric videos and digital downloads. That’s really the point here: Periphery aimed to write something that had a classic feel, something that felt a bit more permanent than whatever you want to call “djent” in 2015. It’s safe to say Periphery is at the top of its game. (Nicholas Senior)
Purchase Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega here: Physical | iTunes