Periphery: Navigating The Unknown
Since their arrival on the scene, PERIPHERY have been considered as one of the frontrunners of modern metal. Pushing the progressive metal genre to new heights with their seemingly endless creativity, the band have only grown in confidence as they progressed through their plethora of jaw-dropping material. Periphery IV, known more fondly as Hail Stan was going to take an incredible effort to top and as if it was ever in any doubt Djent Is Not A Genre has surpassed all expectations. However, it certainly didn’t come easy.
“There were so many different iterations of this record,” explains frontman Spencer Sotelo. “I think where we landed was just the natural direction of where the record was taking us. We started writing it back in 2020 and it’s a completely different batch of songs than we initially planned to use. At one stage we were considering going with a Juggernaut sequel or a concept album but they didn’t really feel right.”
“Every time we begin an album we have a discussion as a band on what we’d like it to sound like and it’s a great exercise to get us hyped about it and get the ball rolling but usually by the end the album ends up going in a completely different direction,” adds founding guitarist Misha Mansoor. “The more we try and force something the less it works so we just kind of let the vibe take us.”
The pandemic was not kind to the music industry in general but it continued to cause PERIPHERY no end of problems, never really knowing when the next opportunity to continue piecing the new album together would present itself. “The pandemic really messed with our plans in a very negative way,” expresses Misha. “One of the main things we like about the writing retreats is that it’s good to know when the next one is going to be and that was a luxury we just didn’t have. Matt [Halpern, drums] had just had a kid so we were being extra cautious, flights got restricted and as we all live apart it caused a lot of logistical challenges. It was difficult to gauge how much progress we’d actually made as we didn’t know when we’d be able to work on those songs again. Even though it slowed the process down quite a bit we realised it was very important for us all to be together. We’ve tried the whole sending files over the internet approach but it just doesn’t work for us. We’re a very collaborative band and everybody wants to have an input. You get a vibe of the energy in the room when you’re writing together. I would say this is probably our most refined release as we had time to really sit on everything to a degree that we wouldn’t have otherwise. It wasn’t necessarily the most optimal amount of time but it was out of our control and we made the best out of the situation.”
The gap between P4 and P5 was the largest in their career thus far, this only made matters more stressful to contend with. “I can’t speak for everybody but I was really, really proud of P4 and I really wanted to top it,” admits Spencer. “Not for the fans but for myself. So I put a lot of pressure on myself.”
“It was our first time doing everything ourselves and doing everything the way we wanted and could work to our own timeline and that was a wonderful feeling. Our manager runs the day-to-day stuff and having somebody like him who is fully 100% in support of us has taken a lot of the pressure off. When we needed breaks he would encourage that too so it’s not like we had somebody breathing down our necks which made things so much easier,” adds Misha. “I felt like this is going to be hyped up to the point of no matter what we do, we won’t be able to deliver so I was getting very demoralised. I think that is why we are so proud of this record as at times it felt genuinely hopeless. It all sort of magically came together though!”
The first taste of P5 came in the form of album opener Wildfire, immediately making their intentions known with its bludgeoning heaviness. This sent social media into a frenzy. “I’m trying not to look! I feel like with social media the way it is, you can’t win no matter what,” explains Misha. “I’m trying to be more like Spencer and pay less attention but it’s been weirdly positive. We’re used to more of a mixed response. I get that some people won’t be immediately sold on the first listen. It’s very dense and to be fair, a lot of my favourite bands are very similar. We take some time to digest but I think that it is music that rewards several listens as it’s like a journey, a bit of a challenge. We’re all fans of listening to an album as a cohesive concept. We don’t treat the songs like singles, which may not be the smartest thing to do from a marketing standpoint! We work a lot on the arrangement and the flow, these things are all very sacred to us. We want people to hear the songs in the context of the overall product.”
Atropos shortly followed suit, introducing more the melodic, atmospheric stylings PERIPHERY have become synonymous for. This track also came accompanied with an innovative video which utilised AI manipulation. “I have a good friend named Rod Chong and he works with a company called Race Service. They’re more involved in the car world and that’s how we became friends,” informs Misha. “He’s a very creative, very artistically driven person. I think he mentioned he was working on a video for ANIMALS AS LEADERS and I said we should talk about doing a video together. We started talking about concepts and once he saw Spencer‘s lyrics and heard the song he started to come up with a concrete idea of what he wanted to do. It was like nothing else we’ve ever done or even seen before. Jake did a lot of work with him as he is the best at expressing his vision and is very involved in the artwork side of things. A lot of people think it is entirely AI generated but it’s all real footage shot with the intention of being AI processed. Rod was so efficient and strategic, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and what shots to take. Seeing it come together was just insane.”
PERIPHERY have announced their hotly anticipated return to the UK to headline the prestigious Radar Festival later in the year. Whilst this is an exciting prospect for the band they have had a lengthy period of time without ‘match fitness’ and this is a particularly frightening concept for Misha. “It’s been around three years since we’ve done a full tour so the thought of it is nerve-wracking in a way. When we first started touring it was just the excitement, I wasn’t nervous but getting back into it and a routine again feels daunting. I’m doing practice and warm-ups every day. A lot of it is the anticipation. There are also a lot of things to consider due to financial viability. For a tour in Europe we’re looking whether we can break even or not. We’re going to figure out it somehow!”
Despite the nerves the band are very excited to debut the new material out on the road. “I always try to follow a little bit of advice I heard back in the day was that you write the music you want to write but play what people want to hear,” states Misha. “We try to lean heavily into the songs which work well live and that the crowd seem to interact more with. It’s very obvious as you get that palpable energy in the room where you know something has clicked. We play Marigold a lot and I’d rather probably play other songs than that at this point but it’s such a crowd pleaser that we keep it in the set. Spencer is doing the most work out of everyone so we have to take his voice into consideration and make sure he isn’t wrecking his voice in the first song.”
“It keeps me on my toes and makes me a better singer,” adds Spencer. “I’m always trying to push myself. We’re going to be practicing the new songs together for the first time soon so we’ll see how it goes!”
Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre is out now via 3DOT Recordings.
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