Periphery: This Time It's Personal

Hey there folks.  So Periphery is one of the bands I will be recommending in full force after seeing them countless times through Ontario.  Their sound and song structure are very unique and the the hooks have you singing right along Spencer.

“Just to be clear to all our Peripherals:

The album is officially called Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal.  We decided to keep the cover title free, but in the booklet that is the official name.  The forces that be felt that it would be iffy marketing it as that, so press releases and such won’t reflect that, so please do us a favor and make sure whenever you refer to the album to refer to it as: Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal...”



Periphery consists of:

Spencer Sotelo - Vocals/Fluoride Lobbyist/Really Tall

Misha Mansoor - Guitars/The Frown Buck/Obsessive Cheese Eater

Matt Halpern - Drums/Idiot Savant/Skully Dungus

Jake Bowen - Guitars/Djent Reznor/Senor Cardgage

Mark Holcomb - Guitars/Norm Malørt/Play Place Enthusiast

Adam "Nolly" Getgood - Bass/Different Accent/Nollford

Bave Wevends - Extra Guitars/Synths/Electronics/Patch Changes/Lights/Being The Best Guitarist Alive, and Being Generally Bavey!

"Hello Peripherals! We just got back from our European festival run, and wow, you guys sure know how to make us feel welcome! Playing Rock am Ring and Download were definitely bucket list items for us to check off and having so many fans come out and support is the icing on the cake; we can't wait to do it again! If you didn't catch us at the festivals fear not, we'll be back in the UK and the rest of Europe this fall with the great dudes in BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and THE SAFETY FIRE starting October 1st. In the midst of all this running around Europe we released a brand new single off of Periphery II called 'Make Total Destroy' and it's up for digital download, so check it out and get stoked for the new record!" -Jake Bowen

And now for the first single of the album, check out the new music video for "Make Total Destroy", as well as the accompanying lyric video :






(Make Total Destroy)

And this was the Thursday goodie folks.  Since the album has been pretty decent for not 'leaking', Periphery thought to beat the downloaders to the punch and stream the entire new album via YouTube.  So from all of us at AFGM (and our readers), thank you YouTube, Sumerian Records and of course Periphery!



"We put so much hard work and time into this album and we thank all of you for your continued support and patience. The album clocks in at sixty-nine minutes exactly and has tons of brand new material, so I assure you it is well worth the wait. Make sure to keep on the lookout for the first track which we will be releasing in the coming weeks." -Misha Mansoor

This full album stream also came along with some news of a new full time Periphery member. Mr. Adam "Nolly" Getgood:

"We're incredibly excited to announce that our longtime friend and contributor Adam "Nolly" Getgood (Red Seas Fire) will be joining Periphery as a full-time member. He will be taking care of bass duties live and in the studio, and additionally will be bringing his considerable guitar playing, production and songwriting abilities to the table.

Nolly should already be known to many, having filled-in live on both bass and guitar several times over the years. He also played all of the bass on, and co-produced our new album, Periphery II: This Time It's Personal.

He will be taking up his permanent spot in the live line-up as of this October's European tour with Between the Buried and Me and The Safety Fire. Our excellent friend Jeff Holcomb will be filling in on bass for all live dates between now and October, including the imminent Summer Slaughter tour. Please check out the dates for the Between The Buried And Me/Periphery tour at http://www.facebook.com/PeripheryBand and come say hi to Nolly!" -Periphery

"Nolly has been an honorary Periphery member for the last few years. He filled in on bass for us on our first real tour (Thrash and Burn 2009) and since then has always been there for us and has helped us out immensely. Given that we love him dearly as a friend and found that we have excellent chemistry both on stage and in the studio, and he is a master of all of his instruments, hiring him as our full-time bassist was the logical solution. His irreplaceable ability and insight brought so much to the production and bass on Periphery II: TTIP - we don't feel that anyone else would be able to take on the roles he has filled. He has already been writing with us for new material, and we are proud to have him on board!" -Misha Mansoor

"It's absolutely amazing to be joining my friends in Periphery full-time! Having felt like part of the "family" for quite some time this feels like an incredibly natural step. I've had the pleasure of watching them grow to their current stage and can't wait to see where we can take the band together!" -Adam "Nolly" Getgood

The new album that many, many fans have been eagerly waiting for, Periphery II will be released across North America on July 3rd, 2012 via Sumerian Records.  There is already a trailer for the album which you can check out below, and you can also make your way to the Sumerian Records store to pre-order some of their merch and CDs.

"II" will feature guest appearances by John Petrucci (DREAM THEATER), Guthrie Govan (THE ARISTOCRATS) and Wes Hauch (THE FACELESS).

Periphery II - Official Track Listing:

1. Muramasa
2. Have a Blast (featuring Guthrie Govan)
3. Facepalm Mute
4. Ji
5. Scarlet
6. Luck as a Constant
7. Ragnarok
8. The Gods Must Be Crazy!
9. MAKE TOTAL DESTROY
10. Erised (featuring John Petrucci)
11. Epoch
12. Froggin' Bullfish
13. Mile Zero (featuring Wes Hauch)
14. Masamune

Mr. Mansoor seems to be making a dream come true by getting Mr. Petrucci as a guest musician for this album, he stated in a recent interview with Metal Assault in September, 2011:

"John Petrucci is the reason why I have a seven-string. John Petrucci is who I wanted to be when I started taking guitar seriously. I learned all the songs off [1999's] 'Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory' and played them horribly. But it really challenged me and showed me… I wanted to be him… I wanted to be John Petrucci so badly. I didn't even wanna be like him; I just wanted to be him. And I figured if I learned every song and solo, I'd get in his head and figure out how he wrote the amazing parts that he did and I'd understand how to be a better musician. I kind of got over that eventually when I realized I just didn't have the technical prowess to pull that off. But it definitely made a very big mark on me in many ways — in his approach to lead playing and arrangements and songwriting, in riff writing… everything. He's just such a balanced player and such a huge influence to me."

Some of the pre-release reviews have started to come in as well.  This one was one of the first I came across:

The new Periphery release is a much more structured and focused effort, certainly when compared to its much more chaotic predecessor. Mansoor’s trademark dazzling guitar riffs and ditto guitar solos are still abundantly present, but it works much better within the overall musical context of II. It also feels more like a group effort, instead of one person recording an album in his bedroom studio. Production-wise there isn't much to complain about on II... Mansoor did a great job here.

If you like the first Periphery album, you will certainly fall in love with this one.  Recommended tracks include 'Have A Blast',  'Facepalm Mute'  and  'Erised'. -Pure Grain Audio

***

"Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal is, without a shadow of a doubt, a great album. It does everything well, and little is faulty. There are however, some mentionable shortcomings. I usually don’t view length as much of an issue, but clocking in at over an hour, Periphery II is somewhat excessive. The band could’ve easily shortened the play time by removing some of the less memorable songs, such as 'Ji' or 'Scarlet,' thus retaining the listener’s attention towards the end of the album. And as much as I enjoyed guest solos by Wes Hauch (The Faceless), Guthrie Govan (The Arstocrats), and John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and despite them being interesting complements to 'Mile Zero,' 'Have A Blast,' and 'Erised' respectively, none really stand out amidst Mansoor’s already elaborate and interesting solos.

Periphery does a lot of right things in This Time It’s Personal, but sometimes tries too hard to be different. They’ve strayed from their Meshuggah-esque sound with somewhat sterile vocals into a more melodic, progressive sound with some of the most organic vocals I could think of recently. They may lose and gain fans in this transition, but one thing is without question: Periphery have taken their sound and not only refined it, but experimented, which is more than we can usually expect from a band that has a relatively large fanbase. Periphery II is definitely one of the more epic releases of 2012; Periphery, love that shit!" -The New Review

You can get all the fine details and updates for the new album from these lovely sites:

www.facebook.com/peripheryband
www.facebook.com/sumerianrecords
www.twitter.com/sumerianrecords
www.sumerianrecords.com