Periphery have lifted the curtain on their seventh studio LP. The American prog metal outfit will deliver Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre on March 10 via their 3DOT Recordings.
The creation of Djent Is Not a Genre, which follows 2019's Periphery IV: Hail Stan, is said to have nearly broken the band — more in the lengthy creative process than the titular insistence that the heavy music style Periphery helped proliferate is not its own category.
Both pandemic challenges and the players' increasingly high standards made the time between Hail Stan and Djent Is Not a Genre the longest between Periphery albums yet. Guitarist Mark Holcomb explains, "We would do week-and-a-half writing retreats and then take two months away from the material before revisiting it together. We really played by the rules with respect to COVID safety and travel and because of that, we had an almost impractical amount of time to analyze the material between sessions."
Co-founder Misha Mansoor adds, "We ended up in a very difficult place where we had to ask if we were retreading ground. I always say it's very simple to make a Periphery record — the only thing we need it to do is excite us. That hasn't changed, but it's gotten harder and harder for us to make music that passes muster because we're ultimately doing it for ourselves."
You can hear the musical level-up for yourself with album opener "Wildfire" and "Zagreus" down below — both of which include plenty of hyper-rhythmic guitar playing.
Holcomb reflects, "There were real life challenges this time and I don't want to understate the impact that the pandemic has had on everybody. All of us in this band went through some life-changing shit. Things were fully primed to knock us off course, so it feels really good to look back and say 'We got through this because of each other as a band — not because of any one person heroically saving the day.' We got through it by just having faith in each other. We won the lottery in that sense with this band."
Pre-order Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre.
Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre:
1. Wildfire
2. Atropos
3. Wax Wings
4. Everything Is Fine!
5. Silhouette
6. Dying Star
7. Zagreus
8. Dracul Gras
9. Thanks Nobuo
The creation of Djent Is Not a Genre, which follows 2019's Periphery IV: Hail Stan, is said to have nearly broken the band — more in the lengthy creative process than the titular insistence that the heavy music style Periphery helped proliferate is not its own category.
Both pandemic challenges and the players' increasingly high standards made the time between Hail Stan and Djent Is Not a Genre the longest between Periphery albums yet. Guitarist Mark Holcomb explains, "We would do week-and-a-half writing retreats and then take two months away from the material before revisiting it together. We really played by the rules with respect to COVID safety and travel and because of that, we had an almost impractical amount of time to analyze the material between sessions."
Co-founder Misha Mansoor adds, "We ended up in a very difficult place where we had to ask if we were retreading ground. I always say it's very simple to make a Periphery record — the only thing we need it to do is excite us. That hasn't changed, but it's gotten harder and harder for us to make music that passes muster because we're ultimately doing it for ourselves."
You can hear the musical level-up for yourself with album opener "Wildfire" and "Zagreus" down below — both of which include plenty of hyper-rhythmic guitar playing.
Holcomb reflects, "There were real life challenges this time and I don't want to understate the impact that the pandemic has had on everybody. All of us in this band went through some life-changing shit. Things were fully primed to knock us off course, so it feels really good to look back and say 'We got through this because of each other as a band — not because of any one person heroically saving the day.' We got through it by just having faith in each other. We won the lottery in that sense with this band."
Pre-order Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre.
Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre:
1. Wildfire
2. Atropos
3. Wax Wings
4. Everything Is Fine!
5. Silhouette
6. Dying Star
7. Zagreus
8. Dracul Gras
9. Thanks Nobuo
