Periphery Drop First Two Songs Off ‘Djent Is Not a Genre’ Album

UPDATE (Jan. 12, 2023): Periphery have now released two new songs — "Wildfire" and "Zagreus" — which can be heard further down the page.

Did someone just open up a can of worms? Periphery are on their way back with new music and they've decided to title their latest album, Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre, inevitably opening up a new debate in the process.

First, let's get to the basics of the new album. Periphery shared via their social media post the proposed album artwork along with the reveal that the first two singles from the album will be coming this Thursday (Jan. 12).

In addition, the band revealed that there will be three different LP variants for the new album as well as a new line of merch items. All can be ordered individually or via bundle options. Pre-order information will also be revealed this Thursday.

So, what about that album title? Well, considering that Periphery are often considered one of the leaders of djent music, it's certainly an interesting statement to be making. To the band's credit, Djent is actually considered a "subgenre" of progressive metal rather than a genre, per Wikipedia.

While Meshuggah's Frederik Thordendal is often credited as the originator of the high-gain, distorted, palm-muted, down-tuned playing style associated with djent, other acts have certainly made their mark playing in a similar style including Periphery.

That said, Periphery have spoken on their love/hate relationship with djent in the past. Guitarist Jake Bowen broke it down in a 2015 interview with Metal Hammer, commenting, “The whole djent thing… I would have embraced it a lot more had there been a bigger diversity in the music, but the problem with that whole thing was it was born on the internet. It really started with Meshuggah, and they had no idea that they were starting anything, they were doing what they do, and they’re an incredible band, and no one can touch them, or come close to sounding like them. But the actual bulk of the scene started on the internet."

He continued, “What I’ve noticed is that these bands that try to be ‘djent’ only take one or two flavors from the sound, and don’t get the fact that it’s way more dense than that. So you’ll only hear two types of things happening in a lot of mediocre djent bands’ music, and it’s not engaging enough and it sounds like everything else. I think that’s the mistake that these djent bands are making; they’re taking the groove aspect and the low-tuned riffing aspect, then putting some sort of clean guitar passage over it, then they write ten songs like that and call it an album. There’s a lot more to it than that.”

While Periphery have drawn comparisons to djent, they've also evolved their sound over time. “That’s where our vocalist comes in, that’s where the sense of melody comes in – and we’re trying to deviate from our habits melodically too,” Bowen said at the time. “That’s another big thing; I think a lot of people… even me, actually, to use an example from recording Juggernaut. I was writing a lot of stuff in a certain tonality, and Mark [Holcomb] and Misha [Mansoor] said, ‘Jake, you should write some darker stuff. All the stuff you write is really melodic and pretty.’ They wanted to hear what my interpretation of darker stuff would sound like, and I did that, and they really liked it. So we have each other to help us not fall into the same pitfalls that other bands might, where they’re not even aware that they’re doing the same thing over and over again.”

As for what Periphery are hoping to express with the new album title, it most certainly will be a topic of discussion as promotion for the new record continues and as press materials are released. But, for now, Periphery fans can just rejoice that new music is en route, so mark your calendars for this Thursday (Jan. 12) and prepare for what's to come.

And be sure to pre-order Periphery's Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre, on track for a March 10 release through 3Dot Recordings.

Periphery, "Wildfire" Song + Lyrics

You take the long way
Wrong way to form me
And the time is now
I never would have thought this is the new me
So many people
So many faces left to please around me
You’re ready to play dead?
I’m ready to face it
As I’m falling to pieces, the vultures are feasting
We’ve breached the precipice
Long way down
Now I’ll say this: I’m in hell, passed the mark I’ve missed
Mistakes running through my brain
There’s a lesson to be learned and I’ll heal again
Bloodstains cover all the walls
I’m the pessimist patient doll
So here I sit like a marionette
Strings on my limbs, rope on my neck
The hell below exists within my bed
Counting every misstep ‘till it’s time to reset
It feels so low, the love I’ve known
Floating on my own
Forward
Back
It’s all the same now
This is a one way road
Somebody do it slowly… kill me slowly
The past is cutting through me and all the imperfections, they show
Heartbeat haunts me
When all the bad times stick and I don’t know what to do with them, I’m burning like wildfire
Take me fucking out of this hole
Heartbeat haunts me
‘Cause all the bad times stayed and I don’t know what I’m doing here
Mistakes coursing through my veins like the heroin needle to the addict’s brain
Bloodstains
Hanging from the wall is the pessimist patient doll
So here I sit like a marionette
A slave to thoughts
They’re like a weight on my chest
An appetite for neither food nor sex
With a malicious intent I’ll take two to the head
(Solo: Mansoor)
You put the strings on my limbs
I put the rope on my neck
You put the strings on my limbs
I put the rope around my fucking neck
You put the strings on my limbs
Now I’m the one with the rope on my neck
(Sax solo: Munkeby)

Periphery, "Zagreus" Song + Lyrics

The prosthetic limbs of social norms are beating us today
The burdens we all must hide, or pay for it
Transgressions aside
Be a martyr for life and everything will be fucking fine
Transgressions aside
Having the time of our lives
Now pay for it and you’ll savor every last drop
Two as one
Fodder for the slaughterhouse
Quartered on the killing floor
You and I are searching for something beyond this social condition
Fill the ballot and give our permission
Over and over
Again and again
Sort your condition
Get down with submission
Searching for something beyond this social condition
Cast your vote and then move aside
Tradition of submission starting from the womb
You better watch what you say
They always know what’s best though
Conditioned by their vision
Sinking in our tombs
The pressure is always there
We know… they want what’s best though
Of course they do
I think it’s time to stop pointing fingers and start looking inward
Measure the cases ‘cause it’s not right just to generalize
Start staring down your life and maybe you’ll see things much clearer
Imploring what’s down in your mind to make an appearance
Sort your condition
Throw it in remission
Throw it aside
(Solo: Bowen)
Will it ever be?
Will we ever live in honesty?
‘Cause we’re falling apart, you and I
Will it ever be?
Will we ever live another day in honesty?
‘Cause we’re falling apart, right from the start, you and I
So paint that picture to sleep at night
No regard for another’s life
We'll be just fine, you and I