u/Constant-Ad-8890

Here's your award. I've loved about every type of heavy music there is over the years. Growing up, I'd see every metal, hardcore, death, punk, rock etc etc band I could. And while I love so many albums, I've never found one album that represents my broad tastes and dynamics even close to fully.

Enter, A Pale White Dot.

It has everything I personally love. Of course, most of these elements are scattered across the past P albums in a way other bands have not tried to do. But for me, every moment of every song represents something I like.

Vocal dynamics

Sonic, hypnotizing riffs

Varying tones

Heavy breakdowns

Grooves

Solos

Atmospheric undertones

Unbelievable drumming and rhythms

Straightforward vulnerable exposed lyrics

I could keep going. And going.

I completely understand there's a niche community who find the past albums to be perfect for them. I get that they lean towards the more progressive elements. I'm not trying to change your mind. You like what you like.

But to me, this is all killer, no filler; the type of variety at a high level that only exists on playlists over many artists, not one band, and definitely not one album.

Can't wait to cause a ruckus at my next hometown show and see some of you there!

I've been thinking hard on the 2 singles and new album structure, and personally, I'm EXCITED!!!!

What I'm noticing (and a lot of others too) that could be polarizing to die hard fans:

1. Shorter track length, which means:

2. Less progressive elements

3. Songs that probably stay within their general sound

But, for me, here's why I'm very excited and not worried... The kiss of death, in my opinion is when a band loses a sound, particularly their edge. Most bands change by getting watered down, and while some do it successfully, it can be defeating as a fan. For me, I think of a variety of bands like Mastodon, The Ocean, Clutch, etc. and they are never going to sound anything like they used to.

Here's what's interesting to me, Periphery is proving right off the bat, "hey, we're still trying to raise the bar with how heavy we can be" (Mr God) ... "We want to experiment with tones, styles, phrasing, and voices" (Everyone Dies Alone.)

By the end of the second single, I kind of realized, the only drastic thing that might change is that these songs are straight to the point and are more accessible in structure, not in sound. Which, hey, if it sounds good, I don't care. I like it. I have been dying for Periphery songs I can just throw on repeat, add to normal song playlists (we may not agree here, but some playlists on shuffle are meant for 5ish minutes max track length), and share with friends that might not nerd out over 2 minutes of orchestra added on to the end of an already 12 minute long song, thinking to themselves, "I liked parts of it, it's really good." only to probably never put it on again.

I know the "chore" of getting into Periphery is part of the charm to the fans. In ways, I love listening to a song for the 20th time and I'm still learning what's going to happen next. That's awesome. But I'm unusual. I came up on stuff like Mr Bungle and The Mars Volta, where difficult parts, peaks and valleys, and a more cinematic unpredictable scope was the norm.

But honestly, for me, the stuff I play the most regularly anymore is more like the shift they are going. This is something I could put on any time, any occasion, in almost any company. I don't want to reduce previous Periphery as "filler" and certainly not "aimless" but to me, this new album seems like it is going to be AIMED, ALL KILLER NO FILLER!

I'm stoked

PS I'm not a bot, freaking Reddit auto created a username that looks like spam, and since I'm not a regular poster, I only cared so much, and now I kind of think I love it and want to use it for more profile handles 🙃