Weekly Dose of Prog: Periphery - Periphery

Of the blossoming sub-sub-sub-(sub?)-genre of djent there are three forerunners, that is three fairly well known names/bands that are leading the curve, Cloudkicker (which I've already gone into), Animals As Leaders, and Periphery. Djent, for the majority that don't know (I just recently discovered the term) is a new genre of progressive metal which the only continual classification I can find is that the guitars are frequently palm-muted. That's it. Other then that the only thing that is frequently seen (that I've noticed) is it's all pretty damn fast, a large selection of the groups are instrumental, and I'm going to be the first to throw out that it's got a splash of industrial mixed in. I don't think that the genre is big enough or has evolved enough to know exactly what it is, what makes it up, and what bands really fill the void (hell apparently Meshuggah is included some how). As time passes we will have more acts popping up to further describe the sound and style of djent, and I look forward to it, because the genre isn't half bad.

New Band: Cloudkicker

I am really enjoying listening to this man's discography! The man in question is Ben Sharp, a man from Columbus Ohio, who writes and records instrumental progressive metal in his free time. You see Ben here has a day job. He has no want to tour or to sell physical CDs. He likes his life and he views music as a hobby, not a career. You got to respect a man like that, he knows just what he wants out of life. But don't let that deter you from listening to his works as Cloudkicker, that should make you want to hear it more! Here is a man who is solely about the music, with no hidden agenda of fame and fortune (well maybe fortune, you can pay for his tracks). You see, as I've already stated, I discovered Cloudkicker on bandcamp.com, where you can get his entire discography for free - you can also pay for them, but it's a pay-what-you-feel kind of thing. It's all very amusing, and did I mention the music he puts out is great?