PERIPHERY: Periphery Iii: Select Difficulty (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Periphery is one of the most interesting progressive metal djent bands because of its capacity to make its music evolve with each album. He was never a prisoner of a genre that starts to go round in circles, the sextet from Maryland had delighted us with his ambitious concept "Juggernaut" in which he redefined once again his metal while keeping the technical and melodic signature that is his own. While we didn't expect to hear Periphery anytime soon after the double release of their master album, the band is back with their fourth album "Periphery III: Select Difficulty".

Tackling a new album of the Americans is always associated with a pleasant curiosity mixed with the expectation of being challenged once again. This is clearly what the first track 'The Price Is Wrong' offers with an angry surge of an impressive density delivered by a band of a breathtaking technical skill. There is not much melody in this track whose concerns are elsewhere. This appetizer is disconcerting and may worry the melody lovers about the future direction of "Select Difficulty". Motormouth' supports this first impression, but as it goes on, we can feel an inclination. The melodies gain in strength and frankness when the clear vocals finally show up on the second half of the track. In two tracks, Misha Mansoor's band condenses the most violent of the band's compositions and does not come back to them afterwards, and at the same time keeps the suspense about the forthcoming content for a few minutes.

From 'Marigold' to 'Lune', it's an ultra melodic Periphery that is displayed in a series of heady choruses with a dominant of clear vocals and a fine dose of electro and symphonic arrangements ('Marigold', 'Habitual Line Stepper'). These orchestrations, the main innovation of Periphery in this album, are rather discreet and disseminated, sometimes in an original way at the very end of the title as in 'Marigold' that would not have denied Coheed & Cambria, 'Habitual Line Stepper' or 'Absolomb', allowing to intensify the atmospheres, particularly striking in the final mid-tempo all in crescendo 'Lune' or the townsendian 'Remain Indoors'. The few rhythmic accelerations and other furtive digressions to more nervousness and djent frenzies ('The Way The News Goes', 'Flatline', 'Prayer Position' and 'Habitual Line Stepper' with its Soilwork-like chorus) will hardly scratch the solidity of a modern alternative and progressive metal based on the contrast of intensities ('Lune'), harmonic efficiency ('Flatline' and the very immediate 'Catch Fire' which reminds of Linkin Park), power ('Prayer Position') and groove ('The Price Is Wrong').

As its title suggests, this "Periphery III: Select Difficulty", by its melodic trends and its mastered formats, is more related to "Periphery II: This Time Is Personnal" than the Dantesque and conceptual "Juggernaut". Carrying on its destiny on the edge of djent, Periphery appears decomplexed in its desires of melodic efficiency, giving more and more the priority to the sensibility over the technique, and manages to innovate smoothly with the successful inputs in the arrangements. "Select Difficulty" is an excellent and particularly accessible album which proves once again that Periphery moves forward with intelligence - Official website

PERIPHERY

PERIPHERY III: SELECT DIFFICULTY

AUTRE LABEL

PROGRESSIVE METAL