I’ll admit: for many years, I simply dismissed the djent movement as “a bunch of Meshuggah rip-offs.” Ignorant? Yep. Over-generalizing? Ridiculously so. But after hearing Periphery‘s 2014 EP, Clear, I began to reconsider that viewpoint. Sure, the band brought out some of the genre’s biggest clichés in full force—chugging, start-stop guitar riffage, oddball time signatures, etc.—but as songs like “The Summer Jam” or “Feed the Ground” demonstrated, they also showed off an undeniable sense of catchiness. And now, almost exactly a year later, the band’s back with a new double album called Juggernaut—and while I don’t know if either of its two parts, Alpha and Omega, are enough to fully convert me to the “djent-side,” there’s quite a bit to like about both.
Nine Circles 