Periphery II: This Time It's Personal, Review

For those of you who are not yet aware, Periphery helped to bring the style of metal known as "djent" into the mainstream. Their last full length featured many great songs such as "Icarus Lives" and "Jetpacks Was Yes!." Their latest effort has taken them to new heights. Periphery II peaked at #1 on the iTunes Rock charts and peaked at #8 on the overall iTunes charts. In my personal opinion they have also gone through an evolution as a band. Spencer Sotelo's vocals have very much improved since their debut album. I have often heard his vocals on Periphery II compared to Rody Walker of Protest The Hero.

The Contortionist Have Created An Intrinsic Masterpiece

(Album Cover)

From Indianapolis, IN comes a band that in this reviewers opinion is one of the best up and coming metal acts in the United States. The Contortionist wowed metal heads everywhere with their 2010 release Exoplanet.  Now I know what you're thinking. If Exoplanet was so amazing there is no way that they could make a better album, right? Wrong! The Contortionist new album, Intrinsic, is truly a thing of beauty. The core elements, while still present, have been slightly diminished in order to bring forth more progressive elements. Vocalist/Keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter's clean vocals, while taking a back seat to death growls on Exoplanet, are just as if not more prominent than death growls on Intrinsic. The keyboards, like the clean vocals, took a back seat on Exoplanet. This is not the case with Intrinsic. The keyboards are just as prominent as the guitars on Intrinsic. You can order Intrinsic here.
More after the jump!