LIVE REVIEW: Periphery, Crooked Royals, The Roundhouse, London, 03/02/2024
Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
The last time prog-rock outfit Periphery were this side of the sea they were headlining much loved djent annual gathering Radar Festival, which was a spectacle nothing short of a djent masterclass from the top dogs in the game. So living up to a headline slot of that enormity they accomplished last July would be no easy feat, but with the strength, determination, resilience and the backing of their last LP Djent Is Not A Genre which hasn’t has a full parade in the UK yet, Periphery pulled it out of the bag, selling out Camden’s iconic The Roundhouse packed out to the rafters with palpable energy from a djenty crew prepared to worship the ground their lords walked on following a set from Crooked Royals.
If you’ve ever seen Periphery live before, you would know they are a band that don’t beat around the bush and cut straight to the chase when it comes to their set. Firing on all cylinders, the band launches full pelt into opener Dracul Gras, Spencer Sotelo’s screaming at max volume and some of Misha Mansoor’s heaviest riffs proving his Periphery Sucks tee to be completely wrong.
Continuing their new trail of total destruction, Periphery hit their wild crowd with some more new stuff. Wildfire sets the room ablaze and ignites a mosh pit that stretches the length of The Roundhouses pillars bodies smashing and crashing into each other as Sotelo dives head first into the song’s explosive breakdown.
And just like a raging fire the flames only get hotter and so does Periphery’s performance. Atropos and Make Total Destroy continue on the band’s blazing glory of djenty heaviness, whereas an acoustic version of favourite Scarlett puts Sotelo’s vocals to the test, as earlier the vocalist admitted “My throat is messed up on the most important show of our careers,” yet pulls off the tamed down version of the track featuring a live appearance from Mike Dawes flawlessly.
“This is the biggest craziest crowd we have headlined to” states Spencer before things were just about to get even crazier for one last hurrah. Sending off their set with hit Marigold, Satellites from their 2019 album HAIL STAN rounding out with the almighty Blood Eagle; Periphery prove over ten years into their career that they can continue to push their relentlessly heavy prog rock to new heights of true hysteria. 10/10
Written By: Katie Conway-Flood
