Periphery - Periphery I (2010)

Sumerian Records, April 20, 2010

Tracklist

1. Insomnia
2. The Walk
3. Letter Experiment
4. Jetpacks Was Yes!
5. Light
6. All New Materials
7. Buttersnips
8. Icarus Lives!
9. Totla Mad
10. Ow My Feelings
11. Zyglrox
12. Racecar
13. Captain On/Eureka (bonus tracks on some versions)

This entry is one in a series of ten-year retrospectives on my favorite albums from the year 2010. Periphery's self-titled debut, while showing room for growth at the time, is technically impressive and provided a preview of what was to come. While one of their less cohesive albums overall, it showed the band's brilliance early on as the first full-length project from what would become a major metal band of the decade. Periphery has become one of the front-runners in the modern progressive metal or “djent” scene and their self-titled debut was the beginning of it all.

Guitarist Misha Mansoor had announced this long before it actually released. The album showed room for improvement which they would accomplish, as the overall songwriting structure and cohesion between vocalist Spencer Sotelo and the band's three guitarists would become stronger on subsequent albums like Juggernaut: Alpha/Omega and Periphery III: Select Difficulty. A couple of tracks here do meander a bit without really going anywhere, and you get the feeling that this album isn't quite as concise as it could have been, and a comparison of "Jetpacks is Yes" with "Priestess" indicates Periphery has made progress in writing ballads. However, it was clear early on that the band's skill was undeniable, and this is a very impressive progressive technical metal debut. It also displayed the band's sense of humor with the less-than-serious nature of the song titles. "The Walk", single "Icarus Lives", "All New Materials", "Letter Experiment" are some of the highlights on the album.

Periphery I is a rather lengthy introduction to the band, reaching 73 minutes across twelve tracks, including the progressive closer "Racecar" which is over fifteen minutes long. The rest of the songs each range from four to nearly seven minutes long. From the memorable polyrhythms on "The Walk" to the simultaneously melodic and technical "Icarus Lives", Periphery has much to offer the listener. If you like instrumental complexity or guitar skill then this is the album for you. It earns a score of 8/10.

Sevendust - Cold Day Memory (2010)

Asylum Records, April 20, 2010

Tracklist

1. Splinter
2. Forever
3. Unraveling
4. Last Breath
5. Karma
6. Ride Insane
7. Confessions (Without Faith)
8. Nowhere
9. Here and Now
10. The End is Coming
11. Better Place
12. Strong Arm Broken

Sevendust has been known for their solid track record in the alternative metal scene. This particular album had a lot of hype from the bands fanbase, and when you combine a fantastic vocal performance as always from Lajon Witherspoon with the return of founding guitarist Clint Lowery, the end result has to be good. This album remains their highest charting project to date. Alpha contained a few fantastic songs like “Burn”, and the experimental Chapter VII explored interesting new territory for the Atlanta alternative metal band, but you could tell that Clint brought something special to the band when he came back. In between that time, Clint had stayed busy with Dark New Day and touring as a temporary guitarist for Korn.

“Unraveling”, their highest charting rock single to date, showed that Sevendust is one of the most consistently talented groups to be part of the active rock scene. There are no bad songs anywhere on Cold Day Memory, however there are a couple of tracks on here that, while still good, didn’t quite live up to their full potential. Namely, these are “Confessions (Without Faith)” and “The End is Coming”, both of which had excellent buildup and verses, but choruses that weren’t so strong. I was listening to the first part of these tracks expecting to hear something amazing and they just came up a little short of that. However, elsewhere on the album, songs like “Unraveling” and “Karma” ramp up the anticipation with the introductory sections and each has just as strong of a hook as it were building up to be. “Better Place” and “Last Breath” also stand out nicely. The heaviest cut “Strong Arm Broken” closes out the album with a bang and really showcases Clint Lowery’s guitar work, proving that his return only made the band stronger. I’d say this album is on equal ground with their self-titled debut in terms of how I view it.

Looking at their subsequent releases over the decade, I see that this group has not looked back since in terms of consistent quality output. While the band may have albums like All I See Is War and Animosity that I enjoy more, Cold Day Memory is nothing short of another solid release from Sevendust. It earns a score of 8/10.