Periphery - Pale White Dot (3DOT Records)
In a recent interview Misha Mansoor basically said that Periphery is a band the members play in for fun, they could not make money from being in it, in today's climate. While this is a depressing statistic, especially for a band who are Grammy nominated it's the reality faced by many bands of all sizes.
The silver lining for members of Periphery is that they used the technical expertise as musicians to branch out into other aspects to pay off their mortgages, mainly GetGood Drums series of plugins, Horizon Devices a pedal and effects company, a merch company and of course their record label 3DOT Recordings.
Always forward thinking in their music they are considered one of the foundations of that Djent explosion or around 15 years ago, creating forward thinking, intense and virtuoso music that owes just as much to free jazz as it does metal.
Their eighth album Pale White Dot could be the most personal, following on from 2023's Djent Is Not A Genre, it's got their signature experimental style all over it, every band member involved in the production, these songs are theirs alone the freedom of having their own label, production space and ultimately not being their primary source of income, there's a freedom to do what they want musically without having to think about streams and radio play.
Obsession opens the album with slow burn the 'plinky-plonky' synths beeping and bubbling into the palm muted/fret sliding riffs as the cathartic vocals of Spencer Sotelo still have a vulnerability and aggression that has always brought a humanity to the mechanised assault of Periphery.
Sotelo is joined by Will Ramos on Subhuman for some extra rage, but the angst of their early work returns for Talk, which has some huge sub bass drops from Adam "Molly" Getgood, who handles mixing along with Mansoor, along with engineering, his rhythm section resolute with the mind blowing drum work of Matt Halpern, who can blast but does his best stuff on the crushing Mr God.
The blend of heaviness and electronic ambience is still perfectly mixed, Heaven On High and Unlocking being ideal examples, the latter especially while Blackwall goes full synthwave. This ambience and heaviness is driven by the guitar trio of Misha Mansoor, Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb, interweaving and conflicting between each other, turning up the heavy for Malevolent and the anthemic Everyone Dies Alone.
While Pale White Dot won't go double platinum and threaten Taylor Swift and the band are a voice for the state of the music scene today. The fact that Periphery still want to create new music for their fans shows dedication to their craft and perhaps a feeling of responsibility as one of the pillars of this technical style. 9/10
Boys From Heaven - The Wanderer (Frontiers Music Srl)
Some AOR now as Boys From Heaven return from, well I guess heaven, but more realistically Denmark. Having made a mark with previous releases they now sign to Frontiers music for their debut on the label.
The Wanderer is packed with nostalgic sounds done in a modern way, inspired by Toto (Say Goodbye), Journey (I'll Wait) and even Mike & The Mechanics (I Will Never Let You Down), heavily leaning on synths/keys from Mads Noyé and soulful vocals from Chris Catton who also produced the record with Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.) mixing and mastering with his modern retro magic.
The idea to lean more on the keys was deliberate for this album layering it with melodic hooks as the the guitars of Mads Schaumann bringing the choppy rhythms to the strutting Street Life, though he also gets a few leads, splitting them with Jonas Klintström Larsen's saxophone, with Eileen again inspired by Toto built around Søren Viig Mathiesen's drums.
The Wanderer announces Boys From Heaven to the Frontiers audience, their melodic rock excellence is obvious, so expect more from them with the labels backing. 8/10
Various Artists - XXX Anniversary Compilation (Frontiers Music Srl)
To celebrate their 30th anniversary as a label, president Serafino Perugino had the idea to show off just how important Frontiers Music has been in those three decades.
This compilation collates some new versions of classic tracks originally written by some of the biggest bands in the melodic rock sphere, released through the label, recorded here by the current crop of stars taking the vocals.
Produced by Aldo Lonobile, who can't resist busting out the guitars alongside a studio band of shit hot Italian studio musicians featuring Alessandro Mammola (guitar), Andrea Arcangeli (bass), Cristian Timpanaro (bass), Alessio Lucatti & Antonio Agate (keys), with Alfonso Mocerino and Fortunato Grillo on drums.
In terms of songs, it's going to make fans of this label jump for joy as James Robledo opens the record with Separate Ways from Journey, Cassidy Paris has Watch The Fire from W.E.T, there's cuts from Harem Scarem, Eclipse, Nordic Union, Stryper, Allen/Lande and Pretty Maids, the latter with Robin McAuley on vocals.
For me the two best cuts are Sunstorm's Edge Of Tomorrow with Ronnie Romero taking the mic, keeping the Rainbow link alive as the original singer was Joe Lynn Turner while Santiago Ramonda gets to walk on the shoes of Cov himself while singing Love Will Set You Free by Whitesnake.
The XXX Anniversary Compilation is a proper celebration of Europe's premier melodic rock label, combining the history with the contemporary, it's an album for the fans but they're the reason why Frontiers are celebrating 30 years. 7/10
The Narrator - Phosphor (Nuclear Blast Records)
At nearly a decade old The Narrator have been loud members of the German metalcore since 2017, thrilling audiences with their stage performance, the realised their debut Lore in 2024 and now they follow it up with sophomore record Phosphor which is just as incendiary as it's name suggests.
Dealing with themes of the closeness between hope and self-destruction, it's a record full of rage and retribution, the clean/harsh dynamics used well to carry both the anthemic choruses and the massive riff grooves. Most modern metalcore is incredibly slick and Phosphor doesn't change the format, the production gives it a contemporary muscularity.
Electronics bubbling under the surface against the sing along choruses and massive breakdowns of TN PFTS, while the influence of Nu Metal creeps in for Agnosia and the technicality increases on Stasis which features Sever from Avralize.
Phosphor burns strongly like it's namesake, The Narrator telling a story that you may have heard but in a powerful way. 7/10
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