Every now and again, I get to write about metal crossing over with a video game. Today is one of those good, good days. If you’re not into metal, sorry, this news item won’t be for you.
Prog metal band Periphery is preparing to release its fifth studio album, Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre, in March. Periphery are considered pioneers of the djent sound, a typically prog metal mix of complicated rhythms and off-beat play. You can often pick djent out of a lineup by listening for palm-muted strings and strong distortion (among a few other factors). It’s called djent because that’s the sound the guitar makes when you do it right. Like astrophysicists, metalheads are nothing if not direct in their naming conventions.
This brings us to one of two new songs from Periphery called Zagreus, and it’s off the aforementioned new album.
If you’re thinking, “Zagreus, wasn’t that the guy from Hades?”, you’d be right. I mean, Zagreus was a central figure of Ancient Greek mythology, but he was also the hero of Sugergiant’s hit roguelite dungeon crawler, and that’s how the band encountered him. A tweet from Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor confirmed that the game and Zagreus’ Sisyphean journey had inspired the band during its songwriting sessions.
Here’s some music I made with my best friends, I hope you enjoy!
This one is called Zagreus, thank you @SupergiantGames and @DarrenKorb for fueling the @PeripheryBand writing sessions.https://t.co/ac7RuE9Ci7
— Misha Mansoor (@mishaperiphery) January 12, 2023
The song itself is an eight-minute, noodly prog-metal odyssey about feeling infuriated by societal expectations and running into the same obstacles again and again. Kind of like, y’know, Zagreus in the video game.
Anyway, the song is good, and so is Hades. Please enjoy both if you haven’t already. This has been Metal Corner with Davo.
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