Composer/Musician Reacts to PERIPHERY - Lune (REACTION!!!)

[@atzerk3854]

There are a couple reasons why this song is special, and I think, in this case, it has less to do with the composition, time signatures or big payoffs like a breakdown or such. Lune is a song special for the band themselves, first and foremost. It is a song (one of the few first) that they have written fully cooperatively, with everyone chipping in; I especially recall Matt saying that his dog died at the time of writing, which leaves him very emotional every time he plays this. I guess the lyrics somewhat also convey that feeling of loss, although that might be about something else. As for composition, it is a pretty basic song, as you've said - at least by Perphery standards, that is - but I think that was the point. As you've mentioned, Juggernaut did leave the band very exhausted, but they've also learned many lessons from it. In that album, they had a lyrical backdrop to follow, with recurring themes, motifs, a certain flow to songs that they have not given too much focus before. Lune is a great example of them sitting down, jamming together a song - not just riffs after riffs, but an actual song - a different compositional task. It was also a great lesson for Misha, who has dabbled in orchestral composition before here and there, but this song (same with Marigold or Absolomb on the same album) allowed him to explore this side of his skills - skills, which would feature prominently and much better integrated in the next album, PIV, showing his and the band's evolution, much in the same way as Jake's electronica parts are featured in PII and PIV for example, serving as unmarked interludes, outros or even short tracks like Epoch, in the former - and integrated passages in Reptile or Garden in the Bones, to entire songs like Crush, in the latter). I also always put greater importance on the placing of a song on its album, but this is a very subjective thing, really. I enjoy listening to full albums in one sitting (a terrible influence from bands like Opeth, I am afraid, lol) and I never judge songs by themselves, unless the artist willingly puts one out as such. Now, Lune is the album's closer, and what a closer it is! The album is 64 minutes long, which means that before this one comes on, you will have listened to about 56 minutes of all the crazy compositions, time signatures, breakdowns and everything Periphery are known for. At that point, this is all you could need, and I would bet my ass that they ended many a concert with this tune as well; it's perfect for singing along and I can see Spencer addressing the crowd: "Do you feel the love? Yes, I feel the love!", exchanging smiles with everyone on and off the stage. I guess this same idea of a closing track is better executed on PIV (showing evolution, again) with Satellites, as that song is more varied in its composition, and has a great banging breakdown at the end as a payoff, albeit less emotional in its sound and lyrical content - but I see the same DNA there as in Lune, and the idea goes back to even PI, with Racetrack - a long, epic journey at the end of the album - but there, as much as I still love that song, I often lose track of what's happening, exactly because that song is just riffs after riffs after riffs. Awesome ones, bangers, memorable ones, but still. PIII is a rough mix of PII and Juggernaut tendencies. I guess that's what divides the fans who love either, but most of the time not both of those albums, and that's what leaves me appreciating both even more. PIV is, in my opinion, a better amalgamation of those two sounds/ambiences. And I still usually don't listen to several Periphery albums in one session, because they feel different so much. I can only be stoked about what the future holds for this band. Sorry for such a long comment, it's past midnight and my senses are heightened, my brain is on fire. Thanks for reading anyway.

[@CriticalReactions]

Never apologies for long winded explainations that contain great bits of details and context that help people understand art :) Great comment! Nothing specific I can comment on immediately but it's definitely given me thought food to digest and mull over.

[@LexiPixeL_]

My dude with an analysis this detailed, maybe you ought to be making some videos too! :)

[@atzerk3854]

@@LexiPixeL_ I'm glad you found it interesting, alas, I'm far too lacking in equipment and presentation for videos like this. I'd write a blog maybe, but who the hell reads blogs anyway? It's almost 2021! I usually leave it to people far more knowledgeable and professional, and just keep lurking until something like this song comes up and I can go full nerd on it.

[@CriticalReactions]

FWIW I still do a lot of reading of articles and blogs these days and would love to hear your thoughts on a variety of musics. If you ever decide to start a blog please let me know :)

[@ianmoone5302]

Succinct. Eloquent. Perfectly articulate. Yes. I concur sir. 👏

[@jessbian3385]

This song definitely has oomph live. The ending with the crowd singing had me crying a little live.

[@CriticalReactions]

I'd love to see these guys live. And I bet any of their calmer songs would have an emotional impact with a crowd of people being part of it. They write moving melodies and just having all of those voices.....

[@CassetteMelody]

Yeah saw this live, was their last song of the set All the feels

[@whatisahandleplz]

Can confirm, I also cried a little.

[@rubricscube_]

Yeah seriously, when I saw them there was this continuous stream of crowd surfing up to the front, we all linked up arm-over-shoulder...it was pretty beautiful :')

[@kylesmith7113]

Periphery has been my favorite band for a decade now, and yet I’ve *always* felt on the outside looking in when it comes to how much the hardcore fans adore “Lune”; though I can attest to the transcendent communal experience of hearing them perform the track live. But please for the love of all that is holy, make “Satellites” your next periphery reaction. Probably my all-time favorite song of theirs, one of my all-time favorite songs in general, and quite possibly the most epic, transportive djent-ballad ever written. I absolutely guarantee that you’ll find the “oomph” that Lune lacks, in bunches.

[@226butters226]

Nice choice of t-shirt for this album

[@CriticalReactions]

Glad someone noticed! 😂

[@noisypinkbubble875]

@@CriticalReactions It's also my favorite cartoon so that makes it even better!

[@wsDiA_vd]

Sponce's voice is a gift from the gods. P3 is a weird album; even if it's not a conceptual album, I feel like it's probably one of their best albums to listen from start to finish instead of listening to the songs loose. Every song fits really well after the previous one, and ending on Lune makes both the album and Lune as a song feel so much better than they already are.

[@simonbustosestrada626]

A curious and interesting thing in Lune is the chorus melody appears before on the album in the end of the songs "The way the news goes..." (min. 4:28 piano section) and "Absolomb" (min. 6:00 strings section), by the way Absolomb is a nice song to check out as well hahaha

[@CriticalReactions]

I definitely need to revisit the whole album sometime, if nothing else than to experience it on its own terms rather than expecting more Juggernaut like I unfairly did when it came out.

[@thelastdaybreathinginetern1385]

Yes!

[@none007a7x]

I discovered Periphery with P3, and my favorite song from them is on P3 : Absolomb !

[@jessbian3385]

Absolomb is by far and away the best song on P3, and I really like a lot of P3. Absolomb is a bit of a hidden jem on that album.

[@dexterhurrenmusic]

The first 40 seconds sound so epic with mostly bass drums and some ambient guitar gradually building. It’s pretty much epicness from there on. That song was my intro to periphery as well. I’m a 15 year old drummer and Matt’s a huge inspiration.

[@martinjakab]

I dont know whether you remember me or not, I commented on your Q&A once about computer science/engineer at university. Just to let you know, I started university, and so far I love coding. I dont know if it changes overtime, I hope not. I think I have chosen well, and I just want to thank you for the supporting messages, I often remember them. Sorry if it sounds like gibberish Also, you should listen to Enter Shikari, I think its one of the more creative bands

[@CriticalReactions]

I do remember and I'm glad you're enjoying programming. It's definitely a rewarding craft and I'm excited for your journey into it. Good luck and feel free to contact me if you need any pointers about it. Discord or Twitter is best. Enter Shikari...sounds interesting. I'll get it added to the request spreadsheet if it isn't already.

[@charliebrayson]

+1 this! Definitely check out Enter Shikari, there are so many great songs but OK Time For Plan B from their debut album is a good choice

[@thelastdaybreathinginetern1385]

Yeuh, I've been a metalhead for 12 years. I've been listening to Periphery since 2010. I've been listening to Periphery lately and P1, P2, P3, and Omega are my favorite albums. Alpha, Clear and P4 are cool to! I had a few people react to this today and now you. Just perfect!

[@TundraCH]

For me P3 had a good variety of technicality and simplicity, Habitual Line-Stepper is fantastic, I really don't know how a fan of the technicality prior would not enjoy that... also mention Price is Wrong, Motormouth and Prayer Position, all killer tracks to me, all around I think the album is well rounded, *shrug*

[@merkaba_lite]

Juggernaut is my favorite Periphery album as well. Hail Stan is a close second.

[@0owmjapo0]

I love this song :D

[@moatfloater]

This song isnt meant to have oompf....plenty of that on the rest of the album haha. In saying that Satellites is the perfect oompf in a softer track.

[@floralfire]

react to masamune or anything off the second album

[@thelastdaybreathinginetern1385]

Yes!!!! Periphery fan since 2010.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Haven't listened to Periphery in a while. This is definitely an usually subdued song for them, and I'm guessing that's its appeal. It has that slow build up to that sweeping grand orchestral (later choral) climax and very emotive vocals. Kinda sounds like early-00s emo rock in a way. From what I remember from my Periphery discog run, this works better in the context of the album, being the closer and all. Not something I'd want to listen to all the time from them, but it's a nice change-up.

[@arthionne3725]

My man when are you going to do another king crimson video?

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

Another blocked video.......

[@ghuitaristo3988]

They did a live performance of this song with Mein's Cymbals ; I hoped you would react to this version

[@deliathorja442]

Orbit Culture-Sun of All ( my favourite song from them, so powerful)

[@metal-adjacent]

I think the recording diminshes the oomph of this song. When you watch Matt play this song, on the drum outro section, he is absolutely abusing his kit. Not that he doesn't use hard hits at other points but he plays the ending super hard. I think in a more raw setting the feeling would be a lot more evident. It's a great cap to an epic, gradually building song.

[@hardtobearit]

1000000% agree. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch this song from the drum playthru by matt. It is crazy emotional

[@CharlesEMurphy]

This band's style isn't really in my preferred area, but not bad either. Kind of more like... ugh, there's a word for it. More kind of like on the outer edge of what I like. There's a better term for that though... man, it's on the tip of my tongue...

[@CriticalReactions]

I was gonna respond with "I think you're looking for fringe" and then stopped myself mid-sentence with "ooooohhhh, clever." 😂

[@CharlesEMurphy]

@@CriticalReactions 😄

[@cobraglatiator]

hey Bryan, could you react to Body Count Carnivore ? if you consider, thanks!

[@skate4life267]

It has all the oomph they wanted to put into it.

[@ThePeca1988]

I definitely missed a good ol' "classic periphey 1st album" guitar solo from the song. The vocals came a long way, but missing out on the solo parts is just not the Peryphery i grown to like once. Im kind of disappointed Edit : i just reached the point of the video where you talk about the exact same things 😃

[@xavierbonilla1164]

This song live absolutely destroys!

[@joshstribling7013]

"literally, figuratively...". I lol'd for real :P

[@fenrizara]

Please react to Kathaarian Life Code by Darkthrone! It's hard to find reaction videos of Darkthrone, and the fact that people aren't reacting to their music is depressing, they are one of the pioneers of Norwegian black metal!

[@sebastiancontreras3637]

Should of done the live session version

[@andu__]

Check out Five Rooms by Wobbler :)

[@bjhellstream]

If you sånt more "oomph" you should of course listen to Oomph! Great german gothic metal band. "Gott is ein popstar" is a good example.

[@stashladki2594]

Didn't know Destiny liked metal, lmao

[@БогданПавленко-ц6щ]

React please LeeGatto - Invasion, available on SoundCloud

[@PanasonicTooth]

Please do some Car Bomb!!!

[@zyklqrswx]

oh wow um first I guess

[@FranzKEYGUIMPET80]

Zyglrox

[@johanliljeblad1236]

It’s like a boy band did the theme music for a sci-fi action movie. Not bad, but still...

[@falsemcnuggethope]

I think you missed that they were in 8/8 for only a very brief time at first. They went to 7/8+8/8 right after you noticed that they changed. Please react to SikTh - Summer Rain. It's a sick(th) band.

[@CriticalReactions]

Oh haha, even better. They snuck two time changes past me 😂

[@bartolomeotucci4653]

Im a massive fan of periphery (on spoty I got the 0,005% listeners XD) but for me PIII is the weakest album... juggernaut and PI are too powerful and too well written

[@coulombeQC]

Thats a pretty weak periphery song imo, id rather like you react to some older stuff from their 2 first album

[@DrumC41]

Lune close to my least favourite Periphery song 😋 sorry