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Periphery - Juggernaut: Alpha & Omega



7.6 | 148 votes |
Release date: 26 January 2015
Style: Djent , Progressive math metal

Owners:

118 have it
16 want it


Disc I [Alpha]
01. A Black Minute
02. MK Ultra
03. Heavy Heart
04. The Event
05. The Scourge
06. Alpha
07. 22 Faces
08. Rainbow Gravity
09. Four Lights
10. Psychosphere

Disc II [Omega]
01. Reprise
02. The Bad Thing
03. Priestess
04. Graveless
05. Hell Below
06. Omega
07. Stranger Things

Disc III [Bonus DVD]
+ Juggerdoc
+ Bonus Content

Additional info
This concept album is divided into two albums - namely Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega - to accommodate for the complexity of the storyline.

STAFF NOTE - the album is being released in 2 separate entities but are 2 parts of the same story/concept, therefore they will be listed together as one unit. DO NOT SEPARATE AGAIN!!!

Staff review by
Susan
Rating:
9.6
Juggernaut: Alpha and Omega are parts I and II of a crowning achievement in songwriting, storytelling, and performance. It is more emotional, more melodic, and far more jazz than anyone was expecting. Oh, it just oozes at times with a thick, dense jazz, which is kneaded into the metal music so well. But that's just one of many important ingredients.

Read more ››
published 21.01.2015 | Comments (28)

Guest review by
flightoficarus
Rating:
6.0
Good news! Hot Topic has a new soundtrack! I was a little confused to see that Memphis May Fire had changed their name, but hey, new tr00 kvlt metal, amirite? Of course, I kid. In all seriousness though, I feel Periphery have made such a regression that it is hard to know where to begin.

Let's take a quick trip in my DeLorean to 2010. It seems like decades ago. A friend of mine posted a video of a little song called "Icarus Lives!" I was pretty blown away. In retrospect, it's not the greatest song ever or anything, but that riff and the low end made me feel funny in my pants. Two years later I was a big fan with both of their excellent LP's in my collection. I still play those album regularly.

Read more ››
published 13.02.2015 | Comments (6)

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Comments

Comments: 20   Visited by: 514 users
21.01.2015 - 14:54
Rating: 7
LeKiwi
High Fist Prog
They've definitely refined their style here, but I don't find it as enjoyable as their previous releases...there's just not enough...feels.

"MK Ultra", "22 Faces", "Rainbow Gravity", and "Four Lights" are pretty sterile tracks for these guys. "Hell Below" is an unusually heavy approach for Periphery with respect to the production, but the songwriting falls short *points at awkward transition to jazzy interlude*.
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26.01.2015 - 04:05
Rating: 7
flightoficarus
Stamp Tramp
Production, vocals, and songwriting took a big step in the wrong direction. Too much pop. There are a handful of good songs to be found though.
----
Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches.
Listen to the Trench Talk podcast.
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26.01.2015 - 18:53
Rating: 10
Brutalhellblazer

Amazing performance. One of the best albums I've ever listened to.
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Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
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26.01.2015 - 20:18
Rating: 8
Dark Forever
Ruído Sonoro
It started great but it gets a bit boring after so many songs.
----
Taste the DARK...
... and you'll live FOREVER!
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28.01.2015 - 03:33
Rating: 9
Gelati

I'm a bit of a fanboy so this could be slightly overrated but I'll leave it here after about a dozen listens. Excellent album and much more progressive than their previous efforts. I was scared when they released "The Bad Thing" as the first single (prolly the "worst" track IMO) but it turns out they just trolled us again. Excellent album full of jazz influence and saucey developments. Whether you like Spencer's voice or not you gotta admire the range and ballsiness it takes to full voice some of this stuff.
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28.01.2015 - 03:44
Rating: 10
Susan
Smeghead
Saw them last night at The Fillmore - awesome! I hugely rocked out like a complete idiot to The Scourge. New tracks sounded great live.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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28.01.2015 - 20:06
AssailantForce

Written by Susan on 28.01.2015 at 03:44

Saw them last night at The Fillmore - awesome! I hugely rocked out like a complete idiot to The Scourge. New tracks sounded great live.


Great! Were Spencers alternations between cleans and screams/growls immaculate or terrible compared to the record? or was it moderately fair enough not to distract you as you were rocking out to the tunes?
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28.01.2015 - 20:45
AssailantForce

Written by flightoficarus on 26.01.2015 at 17:21

It's out today. Here comes the stream of premature 10's...


Haha. Well, in this particular case, it would be like splitting hairs to call the user 10's premature given the staff's critical rating is almost there.
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28.01.2015 - 20:56
Rating: 10
Susan
Smeghead
Written by AssailantForce on 28.01.2015 at 20:06

Written by Susan on 28.01.2015 at 03:44

Saw them last night at The Fillmore - awesome! I hugely rocked out like a complete idiot to The Scourge. New tracks sounded great live.


Great! Were Spencers alternations between cleans and screams/growls immaculate or terrible compared to the record? or was it moderately fair enough not to distract you as you were rocking out to the tunes?


His transitions were excellent! In fact, all of his vocals seemed very easy, despite his being completely amped up for the show. It's easy to push your vocals in that situation and while he was certainly pushing his energy and his body, his vocals stayed on point. Very impressed with that. Concert review in the works; he'll definitely be praised for that.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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28.01.2015 - 22:03
AssailantForce

Written by Susan on 28.01.2015 at 20:56


His transitions were excellent! In fact, all of his vocals seemed very easy, despite his being completely amped up for the show. It's easy to push your vocals in that situation and while he was certainly pushing his energy and his body, his vocals stayed on point. Very impressed with that. Concert review in the works; he'll definitely be praised for that.


That's nice to know The alternating style vocals like the ones by Sotelo and relevant for a number of prog, metalcore, melodic death acts are more difficult to perform consistently, relative to a singular style. It's quite evident when even larger acts, for example, Trivium's or All that remain's front-men sound ametuerish & off in almost any recording i've seen online. Mikael Åkerfeldt is the only beautiful exception I experienced so far.
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28.01.2015 - 22:27
Rating: 10
Susan
Smeghead
Written by AssailantForce on 28.01.2015 at 22:03

Written by Susan on 28.01.2015 at 20:56


His transitions were excellent! In fact, all of his vocals seemed very easy, despite his being completely amped up for the show. It's easy to push your vocals in that situation and while he was certainly pushing his energy and his body, his vocals stayed on point. Very impressed with that. Concert review in the works; he'll definitely be praised for that.


That's nice to know The alternating style vocals like the ones by Sotelo and relevant for a number of prog, metalcore, melodic death acts are more difficult to perform consistently, relative to a singular style. It's quite evident when even larger acts, for example, Trivium's or All that remain's front-men sound ametuerish & off in almost any recording i've seen online. Mikael Åkerfeldt is the only beautiful exception I experienced so far.


Dude that is so true. I hate falling in love with some vocals on the record only to hear them butchered live. I haven't heard Trivium or All That Remains LIVE but can attest to Akerfeldt's skills - and I'm not at all an Opeth fan If you're into power metal, I was especially impressed with Sonata Arctica's Tony Kakko. Live he sounded just like the CD; it was years ago that I saw them but I still remember him and the whole band performing quite well. Shit, if it wasn't such a small club, allowing me to be quite close, I would have thought they were miming while the CD played

Sotelo and the rest of Periphery can be in that class. While this theatre didn't have as great of sound, the performances were still clearly top notch.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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29.01.2015 - 07:26
AssailantForce

Written by Susan on 28.01.2015 at 22:27


Dude that is so true. I hate falling in love with some vocals on the record only to hear them butchered live. I haven't heard Trivium or All That Remains LIVE but can attest to Akerfeldt's skills - and I'm not at all an Opeth fan If you're into power metal, I was especially impressed with Sonata Arctica's Tony Kakko. Live he sounded just like the CD; it was years ago that I saw them but I still remember him and the whole band performing quite well. Shit, if it wasn't such a small club, allowing me to be quite close, I would have thought they were miming while the CD played

Sotelo and the rest of Periphery can be in that class. While this theatre didn't have as great of sound, the performances were still clearly top notch.


Haha exactly how I felt about them to be honest. And yes Akerfeldt is truly a class apart as a performer. That's nice ! Can't say I'm into a lot of power metal, I do dig some Blind Gaurdian. That's really killer! Can't say I've heard a lot of Sonata Arctica, but the vocals surely seem sweet.

That's nice to know. It's definitely a feather in their cap if they pull those vocals right live.
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29.01.2015 - 17:43
Mattybu

Don't really have any intentions of listening to this, but I went to HMV yesterday and if you wanted a physical copy of it you have to buy the 2 albums separately which were like $17.99 and I think $15.99 ($34 +tax). Not sure why they couldn't have just put 2 discs in the same case and made it cost 20 bucks (even that's a bit steep for a CD). Seems ripoff-y.
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06.02.2015 - 15:26
Rating: 6
BloodJuNkie
Of Egypt
I like "Alpha" song!
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21.02.2015 - 13:42
Rating: 5
Kuroboshi

One thing I love about these guys is their logo. It's awesome. The music, so-so. Enjoyable.
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22.03.2015 - 19:53
Rating: 6
musclassia

Really difficult album to properly judge. On the one hand, all these djent/math bands (I've kinda started mentally calling them 'new prog' because it seems to be something of a collective movement) always come across as all technique and flash and pleasant-sounding stuff with a complete lack of hooks or anything engaging, and the poppier/more mainstream metal inclinations here offer up a lot more personally involving and enjoyable moments than most/all other similar bands have managed. At the same time, the simplified instrumental side combined with the half-mainstream-esque sound of it does feel slightly indecisive and caught in two minds between being a technical proggy heavy-hitting band and a catchy melodic one. It's rather enjoyable, and considering that I've totally failed to revisit their other albums I might actually come back to at least some of the songs on here, however it's certainly a flawed effort.
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14.10.2015 - 01:49
Rating: 10
MoonProgeny

I've been pretty enamored with these releases since I've gotten my hands on them. Periphery really has managed to create a sound that is as engaging musically as it is emotionally which I feel can be heard to pull off. Additionally, the variety in the sounds and moods themselves is pretty stunning - from the jazzy moments to the neck-breaking ones (the end of Graveless gets me each and every time), there is just so much to absorb that the albums never become tiresome or banal.

So far, I'd say this is the only "10" album that I own, haha, but I am just starting a collection so that may change over time ... we'll see.
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14.10.2015 - 18:39
Rating: 10
Susan
Smeghead
I know Periphery is everyone's favorite love-to-hate-them band but still, all these months later, this is still my album of the year. Just over two months left for someone to top it. As of today, there is no question.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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11.11.2015 - 18:33
Rating: 6
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Periphery's vocals have always made it difficult for me to like them. In every other aspect, I consider them a pretty good band, and I'd probably bump this up to an 8 were it not for the vocals. In fact, if they had a different vocalist, I would probably listen to them a lot more and get deep enough into their music that I'd rate it even higher. For now, though, it's a solid album.
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"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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27.06.2022 - 04:14
Rating: 7
24emd
Theory Snob
Very good, I enjoy Sotelo's vocals, and the guitar is much better on this than the debut. P2 was hard for me to get into, I didn't very much enjoy it. The first half Juggernaut is much better imo, but overall the good songs are Heavy Heart, Alpha, The Bad Thing, Priestless, and Omega.
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"I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense." - Proverbs 30:2
"Music? Well, it's just entertainment, folks!" - Devin Townsend

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