Album Review: Clear by Periphery

To those who balk at this being filed as an album review: Yes, Clear is apparently not Periphery's third album. That's Juggernaut, coming later in 2014. But it's not an EP either, according to the band. It's too long for that. Here's the way I look at it. Reign in Blood is one of the greatest achievement in music history, and it is considered a full length album even at twenty nine minutes. Clear is longer than Reign in Blood by nine seconds, and that's enough for me. It's an album.

It's also my first musical love of 2014.

Bringing up Slayer was rather appropriate, because I've been thinking about them a lot lately in relation to the subject of writing credits. One of the many facts I learned from DX Ferris's recent chronicle of that band's history (Slayer 66 2/3, available here: http://www.amazon.com/Slayer-66-Biography-Including-Palladium/dp/0615920306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391252503&sr=8-1&keywords=dx+ferris) is that in the history of the band, Dave Lombardo has never had a writing credit on a song. Paul Bostaph even got two! Not so for Mr. Lombardo. This realization has sparked a bit of guilt on my part, in that I'm very much of my generation in my lack of interest in liner notes. I don't read them. I flip through and look at the art, I use them for autographs, that's it. Thusly, I probably have an inaccurate idea of who contributes what to which songs pretty much across the musical board. Part of what I like about Clear then is how easy Periphery's decided to make it for me. For those unaware, the concept behind this disc is the band took a single theme (the first track, entitled "Overture"), and each band member contributed a variation on that theme. Now, obviously, this isn't some be all, end all Rosetta stone that will help you determine exactly who wrote what and who had a hand in which when looking back on Periphery's discography, but it does go a long way to establishing individual tastes and setting up some idea of the dynamic of the group. That's a fairly unique takeaway from any kind of musical experience! That alone should sell one on giving Clear a listen.

The appeal goes beyond these heady, conceptual ideas though. None of that would really mean anything if the music wasn't good, and Clear delivers on that as well. Periphery is quickly becoming my favorite band, and this disc is as chockfull of complex, off time guitars, rhythmic bass, and ethereal vocals as either of the band's full lengths. Mark Holcomb's Pale Aura is my favorite track, but one of the great things about the concept of this release is that each track stands out as a great Periphery song, but that individual touch makes it hard to disagree when people want to single one out as their favorite. There are enough unique ingredients to make someone respond to each one differently without denying any of their merits.

It's early, but I hope and believe this one will remain a favorite for 2014. The best part? Apparently, we still have a quote unquote official full length coming, so the excitement is only building.