Periphery III: Select Difficulty is the fifth studio album by American progressive metal band Periphery. The album was released July 22, 2016 through Sumerian Records, and was produced by Misha Mansoor and Adam Getgood. The opening track, "The Price Is Wrong", was nominated for Best Metal Performance in the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It is the last album the band released on this label. It is also the last album to feature bassist Adam "Nolly" Getgood as an official member of Periphery before he left the band in 2017, though he still returned on Periphery IV: Hail Stan to produce, engineer, and mix the album, in addition to contributing final bass parts.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 70 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Calum Slingerland of Exclaim! praised the band's "drive to keep exploring out of their stylistic box". Prog Sphere's Stefan Andonov stated that "Select Difficulty is by far their most diverse album, they have grown and have found a way to combine complex sounding vibe with the popular one."
Track listing
Personnel
Periphery Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals Misha "Bulb" Mansoor – guitar, synths Jake Bowen – guitar, synths Mark Holcomb – guitar Adam "Nolly" Getgood – bass, guitar Matt Halpern – drums, percussion
Production Misha "Bulb" Mansoor – production Adam "Nolly" Getgood – mixing, engineering Ermin Hamidovic – mastering Taylor Larson – vocal production Spencer Sotelo – vocal production Jason Richardson – additional vocal tracking Pete Adams – additional vocal tracking Randy Slaugh – live orchestra, choir production, engineering Ken Dudley – orchestral sessions mixing
Additional personnel Emily Rust – violin Cymrie Van Drew – violin Megumi Terry – violin Caryn Bradley – viola Kelsey Clegg – viola Clayton Wieben – viola Chris Morgan – cello Robert Willes – cello Adam Heyen – French horn Tyler Arndt – trumpet Tom Francis – bass trombone Austin Bentley – choir Tiffany Yeates – choir Jonathan Allred – choir Randy Slaugh – choir Eric Slaugh – choir Jeffrey Slaugh – choir Hayley Malesich – choir Kelsey Clegg – choir Clayton Wieben – choir Taylor Larson – choir Emily Piriz – choir Nick Day – choir Jake Bowen – choir
Charts Chart (2016) Peak position New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ) 3
References