Periphery, a Washington, D.C.-formed band known for an eclectic sound that both defines and expands the extreme-metal subgenre known as djent, will rumble into the Boeing Center at Tech Port on Friday, Nov. 13.
Australian prog-metal act Ne Obliviscaris is also on the bill, along with Greyhaven and Ando San.
Periphery resembles something of a musical Lament Configuration — you know, the beautiful-but-razor-sharp Rubik’s Cube from Hellraiser that functions as a DM app to Hell.
One on face, Periphery is one of the pioneering acts in djent, a subgenre named for its defining chunky and off-kilter guitar riffs. But twist the box a different way, and you might hear the simmering beeps and boops of electronic music.
Yet another turn and you get a melody so catchy it might be on a pop record, followed by a vocal sounding more like one of Pinhead’s bros.
And that’s just how Periphery’s Misha Mansoor likes it. The Current talked with the axemaster via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles about the band’s creative process and how it brings its complex music to the stage after two decades together.
Consider the band’s newest album, A Pale White Dot, which dropped in May. Mansoor explained that this album, like many of the band’s prior releases, was a reaction to the one before it.
Looking back, Mansoor realized that the group’s once-unpredictable mix of influences had gradually become a formula of its own. Looking for a way out of that creative rut, the musicians decided to approach A Pale White Dot differently, beginning with a central theme: loneliness.
The theme’s universal nature allowed the band to explore the emotion both literally and abstractly, shaping the album’s lyrics, music and overall atmosphere.
Periphery has experimented with different approaches before. On 2014’s Clear EP, each member contributed a song, while 2015’s Juggernaut was a narrative-driven double concept album.
That willingness to experiment was part of Mansoor’s vision from the beginning.
“I started the band and found members that were aligned,” he said. “I wanted to start a project, [but] it felt like every band was very boxed in. I would hear a lot of people saying things like, ‘Oh, that’s cool, but that’s too metal.’ Or ‘That’s cool, but that’s too melodic.’ You defined a box. I was like, ‘Man, I want to be in a genre of music where that’s never a factor.’”
That multifaceted approach led to the immediate success of Periphery’s self-titled debut, according to Mansoor.
“It was our mission statement,” he said. “There’s everything from extremely heavy, death metal-ish and black metal-ish parts, to electronic, beautiful poppy parts and clean stuff.”
Vocalist Spencer Sotelo helps pull those disparate elements together. His harsh vocals are formidable, but his distinctive clean singing gives Periphery much of its melodic identity. His vocal acrobatics recall those of Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, and the melodies he sings have a way of lingering in the listener’s head.
Combining such disparate elements on an album can be achieved with adept editing and a click track to manage complex timing. But Periphery isn’t about studio trickery. The band pulls off its adventurous music live.
The group keeps its approach looser than the audience might expect, Mansoor said. The members don’t chart or transcribe the songs, instead relying on feel.
“We’re not counting, but we’re very aware,” he said. “But after about a week on tour, you’re on autopilot and you can enjoy it.”
Mansoor praised drummer Matt Halpern as the glue holding it together.
“He’s an insanely technical drummer. But I would actually say he’s more of a producer than a drummer,” he said. “He’s just a producer that happens to play drums. His approach is very musical. He’ll play something extremely complex. But if you ask him to break it down, I don’t think he could. But he can play it.”
Mansoor acknowledged that the performances aren’t identical every night, and that it takes a few shows for all the gears to turn exactly as the musicians want.
That interplay between complex rhythms and electronic textures is another key to Periphery’s sound.
“We get sort of blamed for being one of the first djent bands. And we had electronic elements in our music,” Mansoor said. “So it’s very possible that like people were influenced by that. Or also heard the electronic parts and were like, yeah, we need to integrate that. But I think what I like about IDM [intelligent dance music] and drum and bass is how rhythmically complex and interesting it can be. It’s just in a different context [with Periphery], you know?”
Mansoor understands that the distance between Meshuggah and Aphex Twin isn’t as far as many think.
“They’re both like weird, esoteric, cryptic, influential bands that people get absolutely obsessed with,” he said. “And I happen to love both of them.”
$54.84, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport.com.
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