MetalSucks

We’ve been raving about Sumeriancore upstarts Periphery for months now, and their first-ever U.S. headline tour (since signing with Sumerian, anyway) is finally upon us. The trek will be making just 9 stops, beginning this Sunday, November 8th in Richmond, VA. All dates also feature Mutiny Within and This or the Apocalypse — except a very special New York City show on Thursday, November 12th co-presented by MetalSucks, which will feature two of NYC’s very best metal bands: Empyreon and The Binary Code. Admission is only $8 and it’s an early show (starts at 7pm), so there’s no excuse not to drop by Santo’s Party House to get your metal on before going out on the town (or going home, for you oldies) on your Thursday night.

After the jump, check out the latest video update from Periphery.

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Djent flag-wavers and recent Sumerian Records signees Periphery are taking my advice and hitting the East Coast next month for a string of headline dates, welcome news to those of us who saw them absolutely decimate the crowd on this Summer’s hit-or-miss Thrash & Burn Tour despite an asscrack-of-dawn stage time (relatively speaking). To say that Periphery were the standout act of Thrash & Burn would be an understatement; they completely tour up a room that had to be for the most part unfamiliar with them. It was also immensely satisfying for me to finally see a band live that’s been e-famous for years.

The 9-date headline tour also features This or the Apocalypse and Roadrunner young guns Mutiny Within, starting November 8th in Richmond, VA and wrapping up November 16th in Providence, RI. If you don’t live in any of these limited markets, fear not — the band will definitely be touring a helluva lot in the coming months/years.

Full list of dates after the jump, and of course you can listen to the band on MySpace. Also check out our interview with Periphery’s Misha Mansoor and Alex Bois as well as this video of drummer Matt Halpern laying down some ridiculous grooves in the studio.

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When MetalSucks correspondent Angela Gossowski interviewed recent Sumerian Records signees Periphery last month she asked them about the word “djent,” a phrase that appears on some of the band’s t-shirts (pictured above). Guitarist / band-mastermind Misha Mansoor answers thusly:

It’s basically just a guitar sound. It’s not even a word I invented, but it has become synonymous with the band. It’s something we appropriated because of the way we play our power chords. If you play guitar and you play a power chord and you use four notes… you use a big power chord and you palm mute really hard, it makes it really metallic sounding. There are some guitars and amps and pick-ups that are really conducive to that sound, which I’m a very big fan of. So I started describing things that I liked as “djenty,” because they had that characteristic. Just like you would say ‘bright,’ ‘dark,’ or whatever. It just seemed to have caught on for some reason. I actually heard the term from Meshuggah. They’re the ones who coined the term as far as I know. But for whatever reason people have been associating it with us… So if you’re in standard tuning, for all you guitar nerds out there, it would be 0-2-2-4. Or if you’re in drop tuning like we are, it would be 0-0-0-2.

So, Djent. It’s a term I’ve been hearing more and more lately as a result of the fact that it’s a sound I’ve been hearing more and more lately. It’s a staple of the Sumeriancore sound. And I can 100% get behind it! (for now). Here are a few bands that our readers have sent in that I’d definitely classic as djenty.

• Fuge - Scott Bahash sent this one in and wants us to know that it’s “just some guy from Hungary who makes some tracks at home but they blow away any progressive/djenty bands.”
• CiLiCe – Sent in by BTK 666. “Better than Tesseract??” he asks. Maybe so.
• Haunted Shores – The instrumental tracks up on this band’s MySpace page were actually produced and mixed by Mr. Misha Mansoor himself. They sound damn fine, and damn djenty.

Djent djent djent!

-VN

Monday (actually sun down Sunday, but whatever) is Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish day of repentance. As you can imagine, I have a lot to repent for, so I won’t be doing any writing. Vince may or may not be here to give all the goy their bored-at-work dose of entertainment.

In the meantime, here are some fun things that happened this week:

• Dallas Coyle talked about “borrowing ideas” and talking shit, while Eyal Levi contemplated greener grass (not that kind of grass).
• We spoke to Every Time I Die’s Andy Williams and some of the dudes from Periphery.
• We suffered through the worst Metallica cover ever recorded.
• We wondered if Juggalos should be considered a gang.
• And it’s Gojira and Burst live FTW.

See ya Tuesday.

-AR

Another day at Harpo’s Theatre in Detroit: white metal bands, black neighborhood, beefed-up security, and glaring eyes – nothing says “Welcome to Michigan” like playing here. Although forward-thinking on the racial front is lackluster at best, we still have a very prominent and devoted metal crowd ready to use the few dollars they have left to buy a ticket and get shit-faced.

It is here, during the MetalSucks co-sponsored Thrash & Burn tour, that I recently had the opportunity to interview a band that seemingly everyone at MS has been jizzing their pants over: Periphery.These guys just got signed with Sumerian, and THANK GOD. They can absolutely shred, and even if you’re not too keen on clean vocals, I think you need to get the stick out of your ass and check these guys out ASAP.

Their soon-to-be “mass appeal” is more then I would normally advocate. Nonetheless, just because they will most likely be your younger sister or brother’s favorite new band (if your sister of brother is totally bad-ass), they may also be yours as well. There is no way you can deny their talent. Everything about this band is correct. Everything is in motion. They are insoluble. They are the lime in your tequila. They just… work.

The band’s founder, Misha Mansoor, is not only super-talented, but also gives his music away. For free, as Kip Wingerschmidt recently informed us. And not just one or two songs, either – over one-hundred tracks, in studio-quality audio. If that doesn’t convince you to check them out, then you need to check yourself off. Get it?

Either way, Misha and go-guitarist Alex Bois were so very gracious to sit down with me in their conversion van and tell me all about how they got to where they are now, and where they are going to go. I would assume they might dominate most of the Sound Scan posts here at MS in 2010. But hey, to be fair, so will Miley Cyrus. So don’t listen to me, I just have a vagina and I am really, really cool and super smart.

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Periphery were the undeniable highlight of this year’s Thrash & Burn tour, and now that they’ve signed with Sumerian, we should finally be getting an awesome full-length sometime in 2010. That’s not as far away as it seems (!), but still, we wanna hear this fucker already. So we’re happy to post this video of drummer Matt Halpern that MS Maniac Chris Carter sent us. ‘Cause this dude can play.

We’ll have an interview with Periphery sometime in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, make sure you hit up their MySpace page…

-AR

Ever since energy drinks became the new weed, there are so many goddamn gears to be done grindeded…….and Bethesda, MD’s BULB aka Misha Mansoor aka guitar player for rad tech-prog band/recent-signee-to-Sumerian-Records Periphery (who Vince has raved about previously here and here) is crankin em out left and riggity-right…

This dude Misha seems to be so prolific that one awesome band outputting an ample amount of material is not nearly enough, so under the moniker Bulb (an old defunct band name) he continues to make tons of tracks and give them away for free online…….says-eth the young man himself:

Myspace doesn’t let you download songs for free anymore, and I’m all about
giving away ideas and demos and whatever for free, so you guys can
enjoy the songs, put them on your mp3 player, burn CDs for you and
your friends and just generally enjoy the music I enjoy making!

GO HERE: http://www.soundclick.com/bulb or http://www.soundclick.com/periphery

It’s the same site, but both names work for it in case you forget one!

There are about 130 songs/clips/random ideas up on there now and they are all up for download.

You do have to sign up if you aren’t already registered, but it’s quick
and FREE, and totally worth it since you can have tons of our music to
pick and choose from!

There’s no catch, all I ask is that in exchange you burn a bunch of cds
for your friends and help spread the word about Bulb and Periphery!!

Enjoy!!

-Bulb

I’m not gonna try to pick one that can represent this dude and his cannon, so follow the links above and check out his music.

If you are so inclined, you may also visit Bulb on MySpace, visit Periphery on MySpace, or read about the infamous MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys…….take your pick.

Now go get those gears a grindin!!

-KW

Told ya so.

Now that Periphery have signed with Sumerian Records, expect them to take their prototypical brand of Sumeriancore on the road… a LOT. See, the Sumerian guys are smart — rather than banking on selling records, a futile business model in 2009 if ever there was one, Sumerian bases their financial model on touring the hell out of their bands (and we’d have to guess that the label participates in this income stream as well), an easy feat because the label is half-owned by booking agent Ash Avildsen. It makes perfect sense in terms of artist development too — no better way to break a band than to get them directly in front of potential fans.

So we’ll be seeing a lot of Periphery in support slots on tours in the coming months, methinks. Sure, Sumerian will put an album out, but that’ll serve more as a talking point / press event to drive interest in the band and get them out on the road. And this is a good thing — Periphery are a phenomenal live band. Along with After the Burial and The Faceless, they’re probably Sumerian’s best. Now there’s a tour I’d like to see… how about it, Ash?

-VN

I went to the MetalSucks co-sponsored Thrash & Burn Tour last night. Show highlight: Periphery, easily, no contest.

Periphery have been “Internet popular” for years. I first wrote about them over a year ago as a band for fans of Meshuggah, Sikth, Textures, etc. At the time they were looking for a singer but apparently they’ve found one, the tremendously talented NYC-native Chris Barretto, who pretty much dropped my jaw to the floor last night with both his vocal skills and stage performance. Periphery were absolutely just virgin fucking tight and had the crowd in a frenzy, no small feat for the 2nd band on a 10-or-so band bill. I’m very happy for Periphery that they landed this Thrash & Burn slot and can begin the long journey from “Internet popular” to “actually popular.” They totally deserve it.

So, why aren’t Periphery signed to Sumerian Records yet? Beats me; after all they are the very epitomy of Sumeriancore, our favorite new micro-genre. Count down on that shit… 3… 2… 1…

Check out Periphery on MySpace. Don’t let that auto-tune in the opening of the first song fool you.

-VN

The MetalSucks co-sponsored Thrash & Burn Tour is currently about half-way through with its month-long U.S. trek. Those in California and the South have already gotten their Thrash on with MetalSucks faves Devildriver, Despised Icon, Veil of Maya, Periphery and Thy Will Be Done (among others), while those in the East and Midwest will get their chance in the coming weeks. After playing Baltimore last night, the tour picks up again tomorrow in New York City and then works its way through the Midwest, wrapping up August 24th in Minnesota. Is the end of August / summer really that close? FUCK!

Check out the full list of tour dates on the Thrash & Burn MySpace, and be sure to pick up your tickets in advance.

• Periphery, an MS fave appearing on this year’s Thrash & Burn tour with Veil of Maya and Devildriver, have posted their own version of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” on their MySpace page. It’s a pretty fresh Sumeriancore take on the track, and I laud that they didn’t chose to cover a more predictable Jackson tune that’s been done by other metal bands ad infinitum (see: Billie Jean, Beat It, etc). New Periphery vocalist Chris Barretto fucking nails it without overdoing it; psyched to see this guy live. Check out the rest of the band’s super-awesome tracks while you’re at it. [Thanks: Metal Injection]
• August Burns Red have released the new track “Ocean Of Apathy” on their MySpace page, and it’s essentially a re-jiggered cover of everything else the band has done to date. ABR are definitely better than other Christian metalcore acts like Underoath, but in 2009 there ain’t a whole lot of room to do anything new with metalcore. I’m sure the ABR Christian Haterade Mafia will be lambasting death threats upon the Jews of this here site in mere moments, but whatever. Meh.

-VN

Tickets for the MetalSucks co-sponsored U.S. Thrash & Burn Tour — headlined by DevilDriver and featuring Despised Icon, Veil of Maya, Periphery, Thy Will Be Done and others — have now gone on sale, and if you pre-order by the end of today you’ll also receive a free tour poster, and, if you order 4 tickets, a t-shirt! By ordering today (I feel like I’m selling a fucking Ginsu knife) you’ll also be automatically entered to win the “Ultimate Thrash & Burn Tour Package.” Only one winner will be chosen, and will receive:

The Ultimate Thrash & Burn Tour Package includes:
- A Thrash & Burn guitar, provided by Washburn
- Dinner with one of the Thrash & Burn bands of your choosing before the show
- A T-shirt pack, including a shirt from each band on the tour and a Trash & Burn tour shirt
- An autographed poster signed by all of the bands

Check out the full list of tour dates after the jump, and pre-order tickets here; remember, this deal is only good through today.

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As a co-sponsor of the 2009 run of the Thrash & Burn Tour, MetalSucks is pleased to announce the full, confirmed lineup of bands for this year’s trek. The tour will run through the U.S. from July 24th through August 30th, 2009, and will be headlined by MetalSucks-faves Devildriver. Support will come from Emmure, Despised Icon, My Children My Bride, Veil of Maya, For The Fallen Dreams, Oceano, Periphery and Red River Revival [UPDATE: Red River Revival will not be on the tour. -Ed.]

While we at MetalSucks can’t say we vouch for every single one of those bands, we appreciate the “something for everyone” angle of this year’s tour, and there’s absolutely no denying it; that is an amazing lineup, and if you aren’t interested in at least a few of those bands we highly suggest you stop drinking that Haterade pronto. We’ll be there for sure. We’ll have tour announcements for you leading up to and through the duration of the tour, including tour dates and cities very soon. As soon as we know, so will you!

See you this summer.

MetalSucks reader Ramsey K. recently wrote us a letter with the following: “I’m writing to you guys in hope that you will at least post about these two bands that I’m going to mention, because they honestly deserve a lot of recognition for being awesome. I see that you guys like Sikth and Meshuggah and a whole slew of crazy prog metal, so I hope you will at least give these bands a listen or two at their myspaces.”

Touche! The bands in question are Periphery and Bulb, the latter of which is a “solo” project of the guitarist of the former. The headline of this piece pretty much says it all, so if you like those bands then you best check these out.

Also, it turns out that Periphery’s ex-singer Jake Veredika (whose voice is on their MySpace recordings) filled in on vocals for Divine Heresy after Tommy Cummings left / was fired mid-tour in May. Not that this has any bearing on why you should or shouldn’t like these bands. But, ya know, FYI.

-VN

[Periphery on MySpace]
[Bulb on MySpace]