Periphery
Periphery

The result of the absolute genius of one of the best guitarists of our time, the acrobatic Misha Mansoor, already an established producer for Animals as Leaders and various solo projects, the debut album of this American combo offers a well-balanced blend of genres so seemingly bewildering that it has earned the label of a completely new genre, known online as "Djent", an onomatopoeic term coined by the six (seven, eight) string wizard Fredrick Thordendal during his time with the seminal Meshuggah.

And it's precisely in reintroducing already established genres in modern form that this album's greatest strength lies: exploiting the grandeur of the best Progressive Metal with a genuine and original approach to melody, "Periphery" succeeds where many of its epigones have failed, relinquishing a present yet obsession with detail (an absolute classic of the genre) for a disarming spontaneity in songwriting, which translates into a tracklist bordering on perfection; setting aside the very few naivetés surely due to the very young age of the members and, let's be honest, the increasingly subliminal cultural imposition of new media, the album manages to deliver a handful of tracks that could already be considered absolute classics.

Above all, the devastating opener "Insomnia": a comprehensive music lesson, where overflowing technique, combined with a solid background in Fusion, Extreme Metal, Rock, and Progressive, joins arrangements that are nothing short of miraculous in terms of effectiveness, in a constant citation and experimentation between the Meshuggah of "Nothing" and the golden era Dream Theater (those of "Take the Time", to be clear).

A sound as changing as it is damn convincing, in short: just think that in the epic finale of "Racecars" (a dozen minutes of pure madness) there's even a solo by Jeff Loomis, almost as a guarantee of quality; it's not enough that a perhaps overly monochord production, made up of ultra-compressed guitars (Fractal Audio Axe FX Ultra, for connoisseurs) and sometimes too "fake" drums, could deflate overall enthusiasm, because, quite frankly, we're talking about an album that's really almost impossible to take out of the stereo, especially for us veteran metalheads, tired of the tons of puppet bands cluttering the scene and at the same time disappointed by many others who started well but quickly succumbed to the very rigid market logic (have you listened to the latest Architects album?)

In essence, "Periphery" is an epoch-making album, a real blow between head and neck but with class, like being struck not by the usual band of drunken suburb-dwellers (this is subtle...) but by a young martial arts talent, capable of performing incredible feats with grace and simplicity.

If not a masterpiece, it comes damn close.