Periphery are one of the most important bands in metal today. They’ve consistently experimented while maintaining their core sound; a fine balance that’s often difficult to find.
With Juggernaut, they’ve set the bar higher for themselves yet again – and not just by sheer weight of numbers, either. An 80-minute concept album split over two parts (Alpha and Omega) is impressive enough, but it’s in a compositional sense that this album really shines.
Concept or not, as a start-to-finish listening experience, Juggernaut fairly blows your mind. It’s a true musical odyssey, with intense use of dynamics, peaks and falls, and emotional call-and-response. This band already had an absolute grasp of the soaring to brutal to ambient and everything in between aesthetic, but here it takes on a whole new effect. It could be overwhelming, but it never comes across as such – it always stays just on the enjoyable side of a complete mindfuck.
The narrow-minded who default to hating on any trend that comes along in heavy music that doesn’t sound exactly like Slayer will probably dismiss Periphery as a djent band, but they’re way beyond that. They’re a highly adventurous, melodic modern progressive metal act who write complex, dense, intense songs and never stand still.
3.5/5.
Juggernautis out now through Roadrunner/Warner.
