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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Promo_Periphery_2405.jpg]]
2
3Periphery are an American ProgressiveMetal band founded in 2005, whose relative success has made them leaders of the so-called '{{Djent}}' movement, a recent wave of metal acts that employ Music/{{Meshuggah}}'s chugging, rhythmically complex riffing style as a key component of their music. While acts like Music/SikTh and Textures may have developed the prototypical form of the subgenre, creating a more melodic and experimental take on the original formula, [[TropeCodifier Periphery are generally credited as its zeitgeist band]], kickstarting the popularization and diversification of the genre.
4
5Periphery's own music uses the aforementioned staccato 'djent' riff style, highly compressed and mid-boosted production, and glitchy electronic segments to create a heavy, mechanical feel, using lush clean guitars and soaring vocals to add a more emotive, earnest edge.
6
7Discography:
8
9* ''Periphery'' (2010)
10* ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'' (2012)
11* ''Clear'' (2014, EP)
12* ''Juggernaut: Alpha'' (2015)
13* ''Juggernaut: Omega'' (2015)
14* ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty'' (2016)
15* ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan'' (2019)
16* ''Live In London'' (2020)
17* ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' (2023)
18
19Current Lineup:
20* Spencer Sotelo - lead vocals, lyrics
21* Misha "Bulb" Mansoor — guitars, production, primary composer
22* Jake Bowen — guitars, programming, backing vocals
23* Mark Holcomb — guitars
24* Matt Halpern — drums, percussion
25
26!!Give me the tropes to work it out:
27* AppearanceAngst: Spencer has stated that "Everything Is Fine!" is about body dysmorphia.
28* TheBandMinusTheFace: ''Clear'' has three instrumental tracks ("Overture", "Zero" and "Extraneous") and Misha didn't record any parts on "Feed The Ground" and "The Parade of Ashes".
29* BreakupSong: "Absolomb".
30* BrokenPedestal: For djent. The album title ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' says it all.
31* CallBack / CallForward: ''Juggernaut'' is full of these.
32** There's a call back to "Racecar" from ''Periphery'' during one of the interludes in ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal''
33** "Muaramasa", "Ragnarok" and "Masamume" from ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'' all share musical and lyrical themes.
34** On ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan '', a melody from "Reptile" is later re-used in "Garden in the Bones".
35** "Wildfire" and "Zagreus" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' both contain multiple references to ''Juggernaut'' tracks. "Wildfire" references "The Event" and "The Scourge" and "Zagreus" references "Four Lights".
36** "Dracul Gras" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' has a callback to "Atropos" from the same album.
37** "Thanks Nobuo" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' has a callback to "The Way The News Goes" from ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty''.
38* CarefulWithThatAxe: "Pale Aura" from ''Clear'', "The Scourge" from ''Juggernaut: Alpha'' and "Wax Wings" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre''.
39* ClusterFBomb: "Feed The Ground", "The Bad Thing", "The Price Is Wrong", "Motormouth" and "Everything Is Fine!". Spencer seems to really like using large amounts of swearing when he's angry.
40* CoverVersion:
41** They covered "One" by Music/{{Metallica}} and it is actually surprisingly good.
42** Another notable cover is "Black Or White" by Music/{{Michael Jackson}} which was performed with a former vocalist Chris Barretto.
43** Spencer, Misha, Matt and Taylor Larson (who co-produced ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'') covered "The Heretic Anthem" by Music/{{Slipknot}}.
44** Spencer, Matt and Taylor covered Music/LinkinPark's "Shadow Of The Day" as a tribute to Chester Bennington after his passing.
45* DarkerAndEdgier: From ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty'' onwards.
46** "MK Ultra" and "Hell Below" are much darker and heavier songs than the rest of the two ''Juggernaut'' albums.
47* EpicRocking: It's not uncommon for the band to write songs that last longer than 6-7 minutes.
48** "Racecar", the 15-minute climax of their self-titled debut.
49** "Omega", the 11-minute title track of ''Juggernaut: Omega''.
50** ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan'' has the near 17 minute opener "Reptile" and the 9 and a half minute closer "Satellites".
51** "Zagreus" (8:19), "Atropos" (8:23), "Dracul Gras" (12:21), and "Thanks Nobuo" (11:16) off ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre''
52* GenreBusting / GenreRoulette: The band has elements of this. While they have Djent's signature {{progressive|Metal}} / GrooveMetal hybrid at their core, not only do they vary in heaviness, they also draw influences from various other genres, such as Mathcore ("Totla Mad", parts of "Buttersnips", "Follow Your Ghost" and "CHVRCH BVRNER"), PostHardcore ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9fXn7ebvbE Jetpacks Was Yes!]]"), NuMetal ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBSXlbnZc60 Ow My Feelings]]"). They even dropped a song that could be called "[[TechnicalDeathMetal tech death]]" ("[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih_WgC3ZC_E Zyglrox]]"). They also throw in some glitchy electronic beats and effects reminiscent of IDM/Drill 'n Bass every once in a while. ''Hail Stan'' even throws in electronic rock a la Music/{{Starset}} ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9za7ZV4n7mo "Crush"]]), but also ThrashMetal ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpVMGvZbGPc "Sentient Glow"]]) and {{deathcore}} ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzznL_8DIUM "Blood Eagle"]]).
53** ''Clear'' also shows shades of this, what with 6 of the 7 songs on the album being written by an individual member of the band to show off different writing styles.
54* GriefSong: "Mile Zero" and "It's Only Smiles".
55* HorribleHistoryMetal:
56** "Blood Eagle" is about the invasions of the British Isles by the Vikings. The name of the song comes from a method of execution where the victim's ribs were forcibly extracted and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings".
57** "CHVRCH BVRNER" [[PerspectiveFlip is inspired by the Christianization of Scandinavia]] during the Crusades.
58** It's theorized that "Garden in the Bones" is about the genocide of Native Americans.
59* HyperCompetentSideKick: Heavily implied with their live sound engineer Alex Markides, although this is more played for laughs/self-deprecation.
60* IAmTheBand: Happens quite a lot with multiple members of the band.
61** The first Periphery album was almost entirely written by Misha.
62** Spencer wrote "Facepalm Mute" entirely by himself.
63** Mark wrote "Scarlet" and "Sentient Glow" pretty much by himself too.
64* InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike: Misha's nickname "Bulb" is written and pronounced as similar as belarusian word "Bulba" ("Potato"). It was commented by Mark that Misha "''actually looks like a potato''".
65* IntercourseWithYou: "Catch Fire".
66* LastNoteHilarity: "Satellites", the final song from ''Hail Stan'', ends with Jake Bowen saying "suck my balls".
67* LastNoteNightmare: They seem to really like doing this.
68** "Masamune" starts with happy-sounding major-scale progressions, then abruptly turns into a darker part which slowly goes to a downtuned dissonant chugging followed by cries from hell towards the end of the song.
69** "Remain Indoors" has a very heavy ending.
70** The outro of "Wildfire" is much heavier than the rest of the song, which is already very heavy to start with!
71** "Everything Is Fine!" ends with a breakdown.
72* [[{{LeitMotif}} Leitmotif]]: There's been at least one recurring motif on every single studio release since ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal''.
73** Motifs are a huge part of ''Juggernaut''. This was intentional, as both albums are concept albums with a connected story and the band wanted to tell the story through the music as well as the lyrics.
74* LighterAndSofter:
75** Both parts of ''Juggernaut'' are considered as this by both fans and the band themselves. Subverted with "MK Ultra" as it's one of the heaviest songs they've ever written.
76** "Lune" from ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty'' is without a doubt the softest song they've ever written. "Catch Fire" from the same album is almost practically a funk song.
77** "Crush" from ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan'' is an electronic rock song.
78** "Silhouette" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre'' is much closer to synthwave and alt-pop than the band's usual djentcore.
79* LongestSongGoesLast:
80** Played straight with "Racecar" from the self-titled album and "Lune" from ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty''.
81** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with "Omega" from ''Juggernaut: Omega'', which is the penultimate track on the album.
82** Both [[InvertedTrope inverted]] and [[AvertedTrope averted]] on ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan''. The longest song ("Reptile") is the first track on the album and the second longest song ("Satellites") is the final track.
83** Averted and [[ZigZaggedTrope zigzagged]] on ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre''. "Dracul Gras", the longest song on the album, is the penultimate track, while the last track "Thanks Nobuo" is only a minute shorter - and both are over 10 minutes each.
84* MindScrew: Spencer's lyrics can be quite cryptic. Here's a fun activity: read the lyrics to "Buttersnips", and then try to figure them out without looking at the explanation below.
85* NewMediaAreEvil: The lyrics to "The Price Is Wrong", "Motormouth", and "Atropos" would have you believe that Spencer isn't a fan of social media or the influencer economy.
86** Subverted in the music video for "Atropos". The band used an AI-generated art style to depict a dystopian world like the one a lot of critics of the advancement of AI are worried might happen.
87* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Technically, as they've been touring with no live bass since Nolly stopped touring and then left the band.
88* NonAppearingTitle: The odd, often absurd ("Buttersnips" and "Jetpacks Was Yes!" in particular) song titles on ''Periphery''.
89** Actually, most of their songs are this. "Scarlet", "Light", "Motormouth", "Marigold", "Flatline", "Wildfire", "Wax Wings" and "Dying Star" are exceptions.
90* OddFriendship: Misha is good friends with Zedd; he contributed a remix to the ''Icarus Lives EP''.
91** Spencer is also friends with Donnie Wahlberg, somehow.
92* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: The title of their second album, ''Periphery II: This Time It's Personal.''
93** And every album since, except for the ''Juggernaut'' records and the ''Live in London'' live album.
94* PissTakeRap: The verses of "Catch Fire" give a sort of this feel.
95* PrecisionFStrike: Spencer's done this quite a few times.
96** "Icarus Lives" has a "fuck 'em!" in the last chorus.
97** "Fuck me! I am dying for sleep" from "22 Faces".
98** "Take me fuckin' outta this hole" from "Wildfire".
99** "Chase that fuckin' money" from "Atropos".
100** "And thank fucking God it did" from "Thanks Nobuo".
101* ProgressiveMetal / GrooveMetal: [[TropeCodifier Codified]] "djent", generally a fusion of the two styles.
102* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Habitual Line-Stepper". It's about somebody who the band used to work with.
103* RenaissanceMan: Pretty much everyone in the band counts as this in some way or another.
104** Fifth Beatle Nolly is perhaps the most glaringly obvious example. Not only is he a ridiculously good guitarist and bassist but he is also very skilled at production, audio engineering and photography. Oh, and he also did a degree in Theoretical Physics before dropping out 2 years in to go to music school. Nolly's tendency to be awesome at pretty much everything has almost become an AscendedMeme.
105* RevolvingDoorBand: They went through two drummers and three vocalists in five years, ''before they even released an album''. After that, they lost a guitarist and a bassist just for good measure, leaving Misha and Jake as the only founding members left. They could have ended up in Music/TheDillingerEscapePlan territory if they weren't careful, but they've managed to keep the same lineup since Nolly's departure in 2017.
106** Bafflingly, they seem to be on ''very'' good terms with many of the departed band members, to the point of going out of their way to help with their new projects in some cases. They even reconciled with Chris Barretto, who departed from the band in notoriously bad circumstances.
107* TheRockumentary: Every album since ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty'' has had one.
108* SeriousBusiness: The music seems serious and profound, but especially given that they (along with Meshuggah, [=TesseracT=] and Music/AnimalsAsLeaders) pioneered a new scene sweeping the metal world [[AvertedTrope the band members themselves have a very relaxed and humorous attitude toward what they do.]]
109* SopranoAndGravel: Spencer does both.
110* SpecialGuest:
111** They're in the music video for "Ain't That a Bitch?" by Twelve Foot Ninja.
112** Several people have guested on their albums, including Jake Bowen's CoolUncle John Petrucci.
113* SubduedSection: They like doing this a lot, especially in their longer songs.
114* {{Supergroup}}: Arguably was one during the period where Nolly was a full member, as he was already very well known from his previous band Red Seas Fire.
115* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Priestess" from ''Juggernaut: Omega'', "Catch Fire", "Lune" from ''Periphery III: Select Difficulty'', "Crush" from ''Periphery IV: Hail Stan'', and "Silhouette" from ''Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre''. "Erised" from ''Periphery II'' may also qualify.
116* UncommonTime: Shows up here and there. Examples include "Marigold" (verses in 7/8), "Habitual Line-Stepper" (middle sections in 5/16), "Lune" (mostly in 7/4), and "Alpha" (7/4 after the last chorus, then 7+8+7/4 in the last section).
117* UpdatedRerelease: The ''Icarus'' EP, containing among other things a rerecorded version of "Icarus Lives!" alongside several remixes, as well as a rerecorded version of "Jetpacks Was Yes!".
118* XtremeKoolLetterz: Just watch the video for "Marigold" and enjoy your "egzit", "rmz & legz", "akses graind" and whatever.
119* VocalEvolution:
120** Spencer Sotelo, [[RevolvingDoorBand the latest in a long line of vocalists]], was not very-well received by some fans, the most common complaints being that his singing was "whiny" and that his HarshVocals lacked power. Since the release of ''Periphery II'', he is now regarded as one of the best vocalists in Periphery's style of music.
121** Jake Bowen has also contributed his own vocals in recent years. He performs both clean and harsh vocals live to back up Spencer during sections where he is able to play and sing at the same time and performed some backing vocals in the studio on ''Periphery II'' and ''Periphery III''.
122** Mark Holcomb has also started doing backing vocals during live shows as of the ''Periphery V'' cycle.
123* ZombieApocalypse: "Buttersnips", apparently:
124--> '''Misha:''' Spencer, any comments on [Buttersnips]?
125--> '''Spencer:''' Umm, yeah, I think it's about zombies.
126--> '''Misha:''' Yeah, that one's about the zombie apocalypse, pretty much. And, like, [[PurpleProse you read it and]] [[MindScrew you don't get it]], and now that we tell you that...
127--> '''Spencer:''' You'll totally get it.
128
129----
130-> ''[[MemeticMutation "Periphery! Love that shit!"]]''
131

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