D.C.-based prog outfit, Periphery, will release dual albums - Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega - outside of North America, Australia/NZ and Japan via Century Media Records on January 26th, 2015. Sumarian Records will release the albums in North America on January 27th.

Listen to the new song "The Bad Thing" below:

Periphery have premiered the first of five webisodes which take fans behind-the-scenes of the Juggernaut recordings.

“The recording of Juggernaut was a very rewarding, but at times a very challenging process”, explained drummer Matt Halpern. “These webisodes will give the viewers and listeners a chance to hear about the process first hand, and get a fresh, ‘right out of the studio’ impression from each of us about our personal experience with this record.”

The five-part series will run through mid-January with the next clip debuting on December 10th.

The album track, "The Scourge", can be heard below. Guitarist Mark Holcomb states: "After a year of hard work on our two new albums, we're excited to be able to share the first look at music from either album. "The Scourge" shows off a darker, more brooding side of the first album, Alpha - and it touches on some of the melodic and lyrical themes referenced throughout the two albums. Enjoy!”

The album artwork reflects the story behind the Juggernaut releases, a tale of birth and re-birth with the first album (Alpha) sharing the origins of the main character and the second offering (Omega) sharing the gut-wrenching twists and turns the tale takes.  Each release is housed an outer, die cut o-card with the band’s signature P and three dot logo, which, once removed features a booklet cover from graphic novelist Justin Randall. Each album includes a 12-page booklet with numerous illustrations that add a visual layer to the conceptual albums.

 

 

Juggernaut: Alpha:

"A Black Minute"
"MK Ultra"
"Heavy Heart"
"The Event"
"The Scourge"
"Alpha"
"22 Faces"
"Rainbow Gravity"
"Four Lights"
"Psychosphere"

 

 

Juggernaut: Omega:

"Reprise"
"The Bad Thing"
"Priestess"
"Graveless"
"Hell Below"
"Omega"
"Stranger Things"

"Given the nature and complexity of the Juggernaut story, we've actually done something different and exciting in regards to the release,” explains drummer Matt Halpern. “Juggernaut is a story that is told through our music, and we want our audience to fully digest the whole experience. Because Juggernaut is very detailed and dense in terms of character development, peaks and valleys, climaxes and resolutions we've divided the story and music in two, in the form of two separate albums. Juggernaut: Alpha, the first part of the story, focuses on the back story and character development, while part two/album two, Juggernaut: Omega, focuses on some pretty serious and gut-wrenching events, taking you for a thrill ride along the main character's complex journey. Although the albums are split in two physically, the story is only complete when the albums are digested consecutively, allowing the listener to recognize and hear the lyrical and musical overlapping themes, foreshadowing, and connected ideas.”

“This is new ground and it’s exciting,” band founder and guitarist Misha Mansoor says of the band’s approach to writing and recording Juggernaut, which saw all six members work collectively for the first time in Periphery’s history. “It's a way to shake things up. Everyone contributed to everything, even if it wasn't his instrument. It wasn’t about confrontation. Everyone was focused on creating a really cool album.”

 

 

Periphery will embark on extensive touring around the release of Juggernaut. First will be a five-week North American tour with support coming from Nothing More, Wovenwar and Thank You Scientist. Next on their agenda are Russia, a full European tour with Devin Townsend Project and Shining which leads to a Periphery headlining show in London, UK, on April 1st.

Misha Mansoor on going to Russia: "We are very excited to finally play Russia! We have heard so many amazing things about the shows and fans supporting us there and we can't wait to rock out with them at the shows.” And on headlining in London he has the following to say: “It has been too long London, you are one of our favorite cities to play ever. We couldn't come to Europe and miss you guys so we are stoked to be coming back finally! See you there.”

Periphery's live schedule can be found at this location. Check out a teaser video below:

(Photo - Jeremy Saffer