Time and freedom breed invention. Without compromise, GRAMMY® Award-nominated quintet PERIPHERY—Misha Mansoor [guitar, programming], Jake Bowen [guitar, programming], Matt Halpern [drums], Spencer Sotelo [vocals], and Mark Holcomb [guitar]—enliven, enlarge, and expand the outer reaches of their signature progressive alternative metal on 2019’s Periphery IV: HAIL STAN [3DOT Recordings]. For the first time in a 13-year career, the group devoted an entire year to crafting the nine tracks comprising the album. This time around, they operated as an entirely independent outfit, recording it as the first PERIPHERY release for their own 3DOT Recordings. The band open up the proceedings with the 16-minute “Reptile.” Exemplifying a penchant for progression, it twists and turns through moments of bludgeoning groove, intricate fret fireworks, and melodic reprieve wrapped in what Marks calls a, “more saturated, aggressive, and darker tone than on the last albums.”