Periphery is the debut studio album by American djent

Djent

Djent is a heavy metal music subgenre that emerged as a spin-off from progressive metal. Coined by the band Meshuggah, it was popularized through the internet by Periphery, specifically guitarist Misha Mansoor. The word "djent" is an onomatopoeia for a heavily palm-muted, distorted guitar chord...

 band Periphery

Periphery (band)

Periphery is an American metal band from Bethesda, Maryland , formed in 2005.- Formation and lineup changes :Periphery was formed by guitarist Misha Mansoor in 2005...

, signed by Sumerian Records

Sumerian Records

Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen, who is also a booking agent, and is managed by Shawn Keith. Fellsilent became the first non-US band to be signed to the label, in 2008. The label made a...

 and released on April 20, 2010. Many songs on the track list had been written long before the release date but due to vocalist complications the debut album had been postponed on several occasions. Former vocalist Chris Barretto had nearly finished recording the album before he and the band parted ways months before its release. Rather than release the songs with Barretto's vocals, the band decided to rerecord Barretto's songs with Spencer Sotelo.

Track listing

• As well as releasing two exclusive bonus tracks, instrumental versions of the original twelve songs of the album are also available in the iTunes store
• The iTunes bonus track "Ragtime Dandies" can also be found at the end of "Icarus Lives!" on the CD version of the album

Trivia

• There are two references to Greek mythology in the album. "Icarus Lives!" references the story of Daedalus and Icarus and "Letter Experiment" describes a journey to the underworld. The lyrics to both of these songs were written by Casey Sabol, who shows a prominent interest in mythology and mysticism.

• The album's track "Jetpacks Was Yes!" refers to the television show Arrested Development. In Episode 45, "Mr. F", George Bluth Sr. decides to purchase his jet-pack from the Japanese website entitled "Jetpacks Was Yes".

• The album's track "Light" was named after the main character in the Anime series Death Note who is named "Raito (Light) Yagami". The track "Eureka" is also named after an anime character.

• "The Walk" and "Letter Experiment" are the two oldest songs on the album having been originally written about 5 years earlier. They were even played at Periphery's first show ever on March 11, 2006, but are still regularly played in their sets on recent tours. The original versions of these two songs have completely different vocal lines, as well as having some minor differences in instrumentation due to the frequent line-up changes in the intervening period.

• "Totla Mad" was inspired by a post that Misha Mansoor found on an internet forum in response to an argument or disagreement, which exclaimed "U R TOTLA MAD!".

• The album was recorded instrumentally in the summer of 2009 in the attempt for a 2009 fall release. In the time that vocalist Chris Barretto was fired from the band and current vocalist Spencer Sotelo was hired, Misha Mansoor had come across some new recording and mixing techniques and decided to re-record the instruments on the album to ensure it would sound as good and up to date as possible.

Personnel

• Spencer Sotelo — lead vocals
• Misha "Bulb" Mansoor — guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , programming, producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Tom Murphy — bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , backing vocals
• Alex Bois — guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , backing vocals
• Matt Halpern — drums, percussion
• Jake Bowen — guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , programming

All instruments produced, mixed and mastered by Misha Mansoor




All vocals recorded and produced by Matt Murphy at Illuminate Studios




All lyrics by Chris Barretto and Periphery except:

• "Icarus Lives!" Written by Periphery and Casey Sabol
• "Insomnia" Written by Periphery, Chris Barretto, and Casey Sabol
• "Letter Experiment" Written by Periphery, Chris Barretto, and Casey Sabol
• "Jetpacks Was Yes!" Written by Periphery and Matt Murphy

Guest Appearances:

• Adam 'Nolly' Getgood of Red Seas Fire — Guest guitar solo on Totla Mad
• Jeff Loomis
  Jeff Loomis
  Jeff Loomis is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore.-Early days:...
  
   formerly of Nevermore
  Nevermore
  Nevermore is an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in 1991, they are known to incorporate elements from styles such as thrash, power, progressive, and neo-classical metal into their songs, and also makes use of acoustic guitars and a wide range of vocal styles.-Early years...
  
   — Guest guitar solo on Racecar
• Elliot Coleman of TesseracT
  TesseracT (band)
  TesseracT are a British progressive metal band formed in 2003. They are currently signed to Century Media Records.-History:Tesseract started out back in 2003 as a personal side project, to Fellsilent, in the then-teenage Acle Kahney's bedroom...
  
  — Guest vocals on Racecar
• Casey Sabol formerly of Periphery — Guest vocals on Racecar (although Sabol has repeatedly denied this: Jake Bowen later explained to a fan via his formspring account that the part was a one-off take done by Sabol that the band decided to keep on the final recording. This means that Sabol possibly had no idea that his vocals had been used.)

Album

Year	Chart	Peak
2010	The Billboard 200	128
2010	Top Hard Rock Albums	12
2010	Top Heatseekers	2
2010	Top Independent Albums	18
2010	Top Rock Albums	39