Monday, May 13, 2024 starting at 7:30 PM (Doors 6:30 PM) at Marathon Music Works in Nashville. Tickets: $37.37 – $75.01. All Ages

PeripheryProgressive Metal: Rome wasn’t built in a day, the world has never been less predictable, and “djent” is not a genre. These are all undeniable truths that bind us together as we enter 2023. For genre-shifting GRAMMY® Award-nominated progressive metal quintet Periphery – Misha Mansoor [guitar, programming], Jake Bowen [guitar, programming], Matt Halpern [drums], Spencer Sotelo [vocals], and Mark Holcomb [guitar] – creating the ravenously awaited follow up to 2019’s critically-acclaimed Periphery IV: HAIL STAN [3DOT Recordings] was one of the most difficult experiences it has weathered to date. It was a process that very nearly broke the band. However, with Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre, Periphery returns with an album that was not only worth the wait, but sees the band nearing the pinnacle of its abilities.

“There were times where I didn’t know how this album would ever come out. I didn’t know how I’d ever feel good about the album, and I’d rather quit the band than put out an album that I don’t feel great about” Mansoor confesses. While Periphery IV took the band a year to write and record – a period that was considered incredibly long for the group at the time – the writing sessions for Periphery V began in earnest in the fall of 2020, making the gestation period for this release the longest in Periphery’s near 17 year history by far.

It was a process fraught with logistical issues stemming from the pandemic, but also challenged by the band’s increasingly high standards for themselves. Mark Holcomb explains “We would do week-and-a-half writing retreats and then take two months away from the material before revisiting it together. We really played by the rules with respect to Covid safety and travel and because of that, we had an almost impractical amount of time to analyze the material betweensessions. Our standards are higher than ever, so we all pushed ourselves on this album much harder than we ever have before. It was a hard process because we had to keep ourselves honest to those standards.”