Periphery - Juggernaut (2015)

Periphery's most massive undertaking to date, Juggernaut continues in the vein of Periphery II but on a larger scale. 

The album shows the band at the peak of their creativity. The Alpha side is the poppy side with such songs as Rainbow Gravity and 22 Faces delivering the band's trademark mix of brutality and catchiness. 

Omega on the other hand is a more diverse and experimental affair. To highlight some of this diversity: The extremely catchy sing-along ballad Priestess sits alongside the thrash-influenced Graveless and the prog epic Omega. 

I absolutely love Periphery II, but here one gets the clear sense that the band have pushed themselves to write their most compelling, bombastic material to date. One particular area of excellence (though many would disagree on this) is Spencer Sotelo's vocals. His performance on PII was already a dramatic improvement from the debut album, but here he's upped his game even more and is making the songs that much more dramatic. 

On the downside, the album does feel a bit repetitive with the same djent-chug present on basically every song. It's not a huge issue, but there will definitely have to be some significant experimentation on the band's next album.

Overall though, this is an extremely impressive album and my favorite from Periphery so far. 

P.S. Misha Mansoor should REALLY make an electronic album. The bits I've heard on Juggernaut and PII are phenomenal but there simply aren't enough of them.

9/10

Tesseract - Altered State (2013)

With only their second album, Tesseract have not only proved themselves as one of the giants of the djent movement, but have also made one of the best albums of the year. Dan Tompkins' harsh vocals may be gone, but new vocalist Ashe O'Hara makes them rather irrelevant and unnecessary with his incredibly fitting and beautiful vocal melodies. O'Hara's style is catchy, yet very expressive and emotional. But that's not the only way in which Tesseract have matured as a band. Musically, they gotten a bit less heavy and a bit more atmospheric. In particular, there are some rather lengthy ambient sections on this album along with groovy, technical clean parts and even some delicious saxophone playing on tracks 8 and 10. Like Periphery, this is a band that is clearly forging their own path in the djent world and coming up with highly innovative, gratifying music. If there's one negative thing I have to say about this album, it's that it can be a bit samey at times and I caught myself drifting several times. However, that's nothing that a few more listens can't remedy. For now I'll say that "Altered State" is an gorgeous, layered piece of art that prog fans shouldn't miss for the world.
9.5/10

 

Twelve Foot Ninja - Silent Machine (2012)

This is a band that has crafted their own brand of "kitchen-sink" metal. You can find everything from funk to R&B to Latin jazz on this album and it's wrapped in a djent package. The vocals and songwriting are excellent, and their approach works very well most of the time. Overall, it's a very fun listen and one of the most unique metal releases I've heard in a while.
9/10

 

Astral Display - Prometheus (2013)

Djent seems to be trending in Russia nowadays, and this band is the best yet that I've heard from the Russian scene. However, despite their talent for heavy, intricate riffs and their tasteful use of the clean/harsh vocal dynamic, this album is held back by its very short length. In fact, it feels more like an EP than a full-length. Some listeners will probably be willing to overlook this shortcoming, but I tend to think that in the very crowded djent market it doesn't make much sense to resort to such half-measures. That said, this band shows a lot of promise, and could potentially carve out their own niche in the metal world if they choose to experiment with the djent sound on their next release.
8/10

 

Rxyzyxr - LMNTS (2012)

Here's another upstart djent band out of Sweden, and they do a fairly good job at putting out some cool grooves and Meshuggah-esque heaviness. Although this album is far from my favorite djent release of the year, it's pretty solid and it's obvious that the band has a lot of potential to make an even better second album. Also, props to them for coming up with an almost unpronounceable band name.
8/10

Outcast - Awaken the Reason (2012)

This is an awesome blend of tech-death and djent. As one would expect of a band that mixes the music of Meshuggah, Gojira, and Textures there is lots of groove, fast riffs, insane drumming, brutal vocals, and turn-on-a-dime time changes. Really brilliant stuff.
9/10

 

Textures - Dualism (2011)

In 2011, Textures made one of the best djent albums ever. There's groovy, technical riffs and awesome ambient, clean sections which flow into each other seamlessly. This highlights the amazing creativity and versatility of the band which really shines through on tracks such as Sanguine Draws the Oath and Singularity. This album pretty much cemented the band's place as one of my top three djent bands (the others being Periphery and Meshuggah). If you're a djent fan or are looking to get into the genre, then I can't think of a more balanced and engaging than this album.
9.5/10

 

Vildhjarta - Masstaden (2011)

I would describe this album/band as a slower, ambientized version of Meshuggah. It's really heavy, really groovy and very dark. Djent fans should be well pleased with this even if it does drag at times. I'm very much looking forward to their second album.
8.5/10

 

Stealing Axion - Moments

And out of left corner comes a djent masterpiece rivaled only by Periphery's second album and Meshuggah's Koloss. The band's sound comes incredibly close to that of Textures, an awesome Dutch djent band for those who don't know. There's plenty of heavy riffs and grooves, and beautiful ambient textures. This is definitely in my top 10 list of best djent releases ever.
9/10

 

Meshuggah - Koloss (2012)

Out of their whole catalog, I would say that this is Meshuggah's most accessible and headbangable album. Of course there is plenty of technicality, but it's enveloped in catchy riffs and pounding grooves. My favorite song, Demiurge, might just contain one of the heaviest riffs written in the history of metal and it's easily one of my top 5 Meshuggah songs. I don't think it quite stands up to Obzen, but it's undoubtedly an amazing album and one of the best of the year. (P.S. I know it's controversial to lump Meshuggah into the djent genre, but I'm going to do so anyways since they basically inspired it in the first place.)
9.5/10

 

Soul Cycle - Soul Cycle II (2012)

This is an amazing instrumental prog metal effort done through the collaboration of a ton of well-respected musicians including Vishal Singh of Amogh Symphony and Nolly Getgood of Periphery. The styles are, of course, different in each song given that each features different musicians, but throughout the compositions are absolutely top-notch. Scale the Summit and Animals as Leaders have some major competition here.
9.5/10

 

Periphery - Periphery II (2012)

A true standard of the djent genre, this album is chock full of groovy, technical riffs, beautiful ambiance and the phenomenally improved vocals of Spencer Sotelo. Whether it's harsh growls or passionate, expressive clean singing the man has pipes like no other. The drumming and guitars are world-class and the album even features a solo by none other than John Petrucci of Dream Theater. This band rose out of Internet obscurity and with this album has claimed its rightful place as one of modern metal's best acts.
9/10