Clear - Periphery

          Periphery has always been on top of their game. They are now a well known group that puts out some of the grooviest, hard hitting tracks that are always unique and well receieved. A while back, the group made an announcement about the new content that they were going to be releasing. Clear is an experimental album in which each track is composed by a different member of the band. This allows the album to have range of unique styles an sounds, but in the end it all flows together to create some of their best material to date. You're definitely gonna check this one out...

          Each member of Periphery has made it clear here that they know what they are doing when it comes to song writing. While there is obviously some collaboration on the tracks, each member was really allowed to make their tracks their own and touch it up with their own style. Zero is definitely the highlight on this album and it is no surprise that it is Misha's song. Misha is a songwriting master and has taken lead on writing most of Periphery's past material. This song starts off strong with some nice chugs and rhythmic variation before kicking it into high gear. As per usual, the guitar work is wicked clean and the tones are crisp and just mixed beautifully. The section with the climbing arpeggios is a highlight and just brings the track to a whole new melodic level. Extraneous by Nolly is another track that is getting quite a bit of praise. It brings us in with some crunchy chords and mean drumming, but soon progresses into a fury of time changes and chord progressions. While the name of the track suggests otherwise, this one has the perfect amount of Messhugah inspired chugs and offbeat hits to make it a stand out track on the album. Notice also, that the vocals have been left out of both of these tracks. While that is in no means an insult to Spencer's vocals, it shows that Periphery can still get shit done like old times completely intstrumental (even with Spencer's spectacularly improved vocals). On that note, the tracks with vocals present are much more melodic based, such as The Summer Jam. This is not a bad thing at all as Periphery has always been great at blending together the best of the heavy and the highs. Spencer's vocal range has definitely grown over time with some of his screams sounding better than ever here. 

          Clear is a great concept for an album and due to Periphery's killer lineup and natural talent, I'd say that is has been a success. This album is great from start to finish and while only 7 songs, they are all songs that will keep fans more than happy until future notice. 

Check out the full stream of the album on Youtube here:

Clear = 4.5/5