FULL Musical Analysis of Zagreus by Periphery! (Djent IS a Genre!!)

[@jakebowen]

I’m glad there’s somebody out there who knows what we’re doing because I sure don’t! Killer video!

[@TheProgSchool]

Hahaha! Just because you can’t explain it like a nerd doesn’t mean you don’t understand what you’re doing. Thanks for checking it out! Killer solo on this one btw

[@myklelara]

Oh my god hearing the breakdown of the chord progression in the chorus definitely has the feeling and sound of Eurydice’s song “Good Riddance” in Hades. The layers here are incredible.

[@TheProgSchool]

The chorus really is great!

[@alfonzog6327]

Well, the song is about how the album was delayed due to Misha and (I think) Spencer getting hopelessly obsessed with the game, so I think that might have been intentional!

[@CriticalReactions]

Excellent breakdown! I love how you get into the nitty gritty of chord theory and explain how they craft the sound of each of these sections. Impeccable breakdown of the rhythmic/metric stuff too. I probably would have mentioned something parallel to the 12/8 in my breakdown if I had taken any moment to figure out the meter but I was jamming along too hard. 😅 It's hard to stay in that active listening mindset when it's a favorite band

[@TheProgSchool]

Thanks! I usually do a few casual listens first before I start to analyze. At the end of the day the enjoyment of the music is most important, even for someone like me who likes to over analyze everything haha.

[@KalibroLP]

This channel is my discover of year

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you, and welcome!!

[@hyalinamusic18]

Glad to see some Periphery on your channel! They became one of my favorite bands a couple years ago. I'm super excited for P5, and judging on these first two singles and the newest one Atropos, I think this could be my album of the year. It's possible The Ocean or Steven Wilson could give it a run for its money as we're still so far from the end of the year. My favorite Periphery album is probably P4, especially for the massive 17 minute Reptile, but the rest of the tracks are top tier too. I have a special emotional connection to It's Only Smiles and its exploration of grief and losing the people you love, and it's a little more melodic focussing on major tonalities instead of minor, diminished, or chromatic like a lot of Periphery's really heavy stuff does. They've been pretty good at getting better each release, so we'll see if P5 steals P4's spot as my favorite Periphery record. I also really love the Juggernaut albums, their use of motifs throughout both disks to connect them together and tell the overall story is really well done imo. But I genuinely like every single Periphery album, they, along with Haken, Persefone, and Leprous have a perfect discography. Anyways, great analysis as always!

[@TheProgSchool]

I've grown to appreciate them more over the years. I'm still not the biggest fan, but I'd agree that P4 is their best so far. When they hit they hit big, but they have some misses as well for me personally. I'm interested to hear the rest of the album!

[@benlockhart8721]

How you manage to figure out all of this is mindblowing man top stuff!

[@TheProgSchool]

Thanks! The more I do this type of analysis the faster I get at deciphering this stuff

[@seanbradford207]

Great video, look forward to the album coming out and hopefully some more breakdowns of those songs from you!

[@TheProgSchool]

Thanks! I doubt I’ll do such an involved video on one of the other songs as this took waaaay too much time to make, but we’ll see haha

[@daniprieto463]

Awesome! Thanks :)

[@TheProgSchool]

You’re welcome!!

[@pjuckazz]

one of the best and most educational videos I have ever seen. Please do the other song!

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you! Unfortunately this video took like 40 hours of work, so it’s unlikely I’ll do Wildfire. Especially since I didn’t enjoy that one quite as much.

[@CodyCleggMusic]

This is such an awesome breakdown. I know a ton of work went into this. Thank you for putting this together for us!

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you! And yes this was an obscene amount of work haha

[@alexdotdash7731]

Amazing work; I always wanted to know more theory behind Periphery songs and prog songs in general, you are a saint!

[@TheProgSchool]

You're welcome, glad I could help!

[@verstamp]

Great breakdown! How these guys write this purely by ear will be forever beyond me.

[@TheProgSchool]

With enough practice and time it’s amazing what musicians can do, even without formal training!

[@jimmyharrington3655]

At 35:15 you mention that the riff is "from a video game". But it's so much more important than that, it's from the game "hades" which is A) where the title "Zagreus" comes from and B) a game with a really killer metal soundtrack. The riff they play is incredibly similar to the actual in game sound, even in guitar tone.

[@TheProgSchool]

I’ve seen this pointed out a few times now. Very cool connection to the theme of the song! I’ve never played Hades, hence why I never would have picked this up. Thanks for the info!

[@jimmyharrington3655]

@@TheProgSchool Even if you don't play video games, I definitely recommend checking out the soundtrack, particularly the song "God of the Dead"

[@TheProgSchool]

@@jimmyharrington3655 I’ll give it listen, I’m a big game soundtrack fan! And I do game when I have time, which isn’t as often as I’d like haha

[@EvilDMJosh]

Great video! Reminds me of my school years in band class.

[@TheProgSchool]

Thanks! Hopefully those are good memories haha

[@EvilDMJosh]

@@TheProgSchool lol they very much were!

[@innocenthedgehog8367]

Such an awesome breakdown! Glad I discovered your channel.

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you, and welcome!!

[@chasespell7293]

Excellent work!

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you!

[@chasespell7293]

@@TheProgSchoolI would love to see Protest on here, plz do it 😊

[@chasespell7293]

@@TheProgSchool Still listening to this song every day. It's really fucking good. So, extra special thanks for your work on this video!

[@staatsanwaltschaftemskirch4709]

Great Work, you could have added the juggernaut references to get 11/10 point from me Subbed

[@TheProgSchool]

Haha, next time!

[@MaestroKatProductions]

Ever since the song released, I've been trying to learn the song by ear but with much difficulty. Thank you for uploading this vid and making things clearer, especially the Dm riff that was a bit too fast for me to catch!

[@TheProgSchool]

You’re welcome, glad to help!!

[@FrankYoungUK]

Protest the Hero is a great call, there is a Blindfolds Aside type vibe there.

[@TheProgSchool]

I was getting that vibe as well!

[@FrankYoungUK]

@@TheProgSchool Didn't catch it myself but as soon as you said it I got what you meant. Great breakdown, it really helps to understand how they structure their music which I sometimes find hard to grasp (whilst loving it).

[@TheProgSchool]

@@FrankYoungUK You're welcome, glad I can help out!

[@maxalaintwo3578]

For a band kid like myself, all the notation is much appreciated lmao I can't read tabs for my life

[@TheProgSchool]

I like to have both, mostly because tab is a terrible tool for rhythmic notation!

[@franbian]

In the bridge, I actually heard it kind of as a 6/8 at half speed (with two groups of three 8th notes); don't know if that's correct but it sure is interesting to me to hear it in 6/4 as you do. Anyways, great video!

[@TheProgSchool]

You could write it at half speed in 6/8. I put the song on a grid in my DAW and it never went away from the original 12/8 in the bridge, hence why I wrote it in 6/4. I’m feeling it in two larger groups of 3 though for sure!

[@franbian]

@@TheProgSchool Ohh right, I hadn't seen the accent marks on the 1st and 4th beat. Thank you!

[@TheProgSchool]

@@franbian In hindsight I should have mentioned that verbally, but something always slips through the cracks haha

[@franbian]

@@TheProgSchool haha no worries!!

[@alfonzog6327]

Awesome video man! Have you ever looked at Jinjer or Intronaut? I think they'd be right up your alley if you haven't, and would be great candidates for a second 10 Rhythms

[@TheProgSchool]

I really like Intronaut!

[@benlockhart8721]

Ayyy Alfonzo funny seeing you here, love your stuff on MuseScore man keep it up!

[@alfonzog6327]

@@benlockhart8721 You say that like I ever plan on stopping 🤘 Thanks for the kind words though, it really means a lot :D

[@benlockhart8721]

@@alfonzog6327 Of course man!

[@DrummerX77]

Its a shame this video doesnt have way more views. Great work man.

[@TheProgSchool]

Thank you! Hopefully it’ll get some more views soon!

[@ishokumusic554]

Would you stick to your original guess for the tuning after watching their playthrough from yesterday? Looks like they are hanging on the first fret on the intro.

[@TheProgSchool]

Yes, because later they move to hanging on the open low string. The intro is rooted on Ab, which is the 1st fret in the tuning.