PERIPHERY II: THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL

Periphery II: This Time It's Personal is not just an album, it's a force of nature. Unlike Periphery I or founding guitarist Misha "Bulb" Mansour's previous solo work which "merely" explored the possibilities afforded by modern "bedroom" production and djent style riffing, Periphery II actually combines the powers of all six of the group's visionary and boundary pushing musicians in an effort to redefine what progressive metal was going to be in the 2010's.

The riffs on this record display brain melting technicality and heaviness. Yet drummer Matt Halpern ensures that the polyrhythmic madness is always firmly grounded in infectious body shaking grooves. Spencer Sotelo's blend of Randy Blythe style growls and early 2000's screamo is a staggering display of vocal dexterity and virtuosity. And Jake Bowen's electronic interludes help piece the disparate parts of the record into a coherent whole. No wonder Loudwire placed this record on their top 25 progressive metal albums of all-time list.

And yet despite the groups undeniable impact and power, Periphery receives more than its fair share of hate from the metal and prog gatekeepers. The inbreds over at Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives refuse to list Periphery while reviewers on the Prog Archives have actually gone on to insult the intelligence of Periphery fans. But when it comes to art and politics, you'll always have your reactionary fearful fascists calling out the heresies of pioneers. Thankfully, those people tend to be on the wrong side of history.