Album Rating: 4.0
"Phenomenal production, catchy melodies and ace performances by everyone in the band (yes, even Spencer). Every song is a winner," someone already said. Indeed, there's not a single composition on the album I can say is less than amazing.
I had almost no hopes for this album, that has much to do with myself drifting away from "rock" and "metal" to "post-rock/metal" as it has with the decaying state of the music itself, as if it's dying, stagnantly rotting away and chewing on the leftovers of "br00tal" metal fanboys who call "gay" whatever doesn't sound like a guitar raping a pig (and vice-versa). As a matter of fact, I had only two "metal" albums left on my PC.
Enter Periphery II. There's fortunately a huge shift towards clean vocals with "screams" being only an intermezzo to highlight the beauty of Spencer's voice. Indeed; beauty. Spencer has not only improved beyond "I'd rather have an instrumental version of this album," he's in fact one of the best male vocals I've ever heard. So immensely versatile and so emotional I actually don't want to ever hear a Periphery song without him again.
The compositions are so tight they dish out dozens of elements within 3 minutes leaving you craving more, only to end with absolutely amazing post-rock tunes. It's like going through a beautiful hurricane and then seeing the sun shine through the thick dissipating clouds, and it happens so fast it's like being on the ride of your life which you'd want to repeat into infinity.
This has nothing to do with "djent" or even "metal" anymore, this is something entirely different, fresh, amazing, new...and above all EPIC. For the first time in my life can I actually listen to what others consider "metal" and really enjoy it because it's easy on the ear. The musicianship is still top notch, these guys display amazing skill one simply can't overlook, but one can actually enjoy it! The songwriting, the singing, the layers, the instrumentation, everything isn't just wanking anymore, it's actually good music!
Never did I believe a so called "metal" album would ever leave me speechless again, but here I am. On a second thought, perhaps the immense negative response is exactly because this album ISN'T "metal" at all. Looking through arguments like "gay" in almost every "criticism" explains the negative response, why this album isn't "metal," and why I stopped listening to crap (metal).
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