Periphery is a band well known in the metal community as one of the pioneers of the djent/progressive metal movement. They have gained a loyal and sizeable fanbase through their previous two releases, Periphery and Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal, as both albums were very innovative and successful. Clear is Periphery’s latest EP, released on 1/28/2014, via Sumerian Records. This EP is a unique release, and deviates from the standard Periphery releases in that instead of every Periphery member working on this record together, each member individually works on one song and the album is basically a collection of these tracks. Periphery has stated that this release is meant to be experimental, and not a continuation of their previous two records. I believe that this “experiment” turned out to be a massive success, as this album is able to showcase just how talented each member of Periphery is. Continue reading →

After several lawsuits with Victory Records, A Day to Remember has finally released their fifth album, entitled Common Courtesy on October 8. This pop punk/post-hardcore band from Ocala, Florida has gained much popularity over the years because they have been able to blend metalcore elements with catchy pop punk melodies to make the songs supposedly sound more interesting and “hardcore”. Prior to Common Courtesy, the only ADTR album I have listened to was Homesick, and I thought that it was a decent album and somewhat enjoyable, although saturated with mundane breakdowns and cheesy lyrics. Common Courtesy, on the other hand, is a complete mess of an album, and fails to interest me at all. From the first to the last track, the album was so boring and repetitive that there were multiple times when I almost fell asleep listening to it.   Continue reading →

I See Stars is back with their fourth album, entitled New Demons. The album was released on 10/22/2013, via Sumerian Records. It seems that they have been working quite diligently over these past few years, as it has only been one a half years since the release of their previous album, Digital Renegade. Although many people did not like that album, I enjoyed it a lot, and I thought it had many standout tracks such as “Gnars Attacks”, “NZT48”, “Digital Renegade”, and “Filth Friends Unite” (check out the music video). With New Demons, they have changed up their sound a lot, and it sounds quite different from Digital Renegade. I believe that New Demons is a progression from Digital Renegade, as it incorporates many more elements of electronic music, and the tracks seem much heavier and interesting. Continue reading →