Polyphia

Polyphia
Origin	Dallas, Texas, United States
Genres	Progressive metal djent electronica instrumental metal
Years active	2011–present
Labels	Equal Vision Headphone Music
Associated acts	Periphery Between the Buried and Me Chon Animals as Leaders Intervals The Contortionist August Burns Red
Website	polyphia.net
Members	Timothy Henson Scott LePage Clay Gober
Past members	Randy Methe Brandon Burkhalter Hunter Avant Lane Duskin

Polyphia is an American instrumental progressive metal band based in Dallas, Texas,^[1] formed in 2010.

History

Polyphia first achieved mainstream success when the guitar play-through of "Impassion", from the EP Inspire, went viral in the progressive community on YouTube. Ever since, the band has continued to grow in popularity and have gone on several national tours sharing the stage with the likes of other prog giants such as Periphery, Between the Buried and Me, August Burns Red, among several others.^[2]

In addition to this, Polyphia has continued to write music; often with many guest soloists. They have featured guitarists Jason Richardson (Chelsea Grin, Born of Osiris, All Shall Perish), Aaron Marshall (Intervals), and both guitarists(Mario Camarena and Erick Hansol) of Chon as well as other notable YouTube guitarists Rick Graham, Nick Johnston, and Jakub Żytecki in their music.^[3]

They state that their influence comes from artists of all genres. The band started out with a heavier shred oriented sound but have since matured into a more melodic conscious focused band. When describing Muse, Tim had said that the primary inspiration had come from pop and rap music, as to not draw influence from other members of their genre.^[4]

Style and influences

The band is known for their melodic and progressive sound which employs heavy use of technical lead guitar harmonies, yet catchy riff writing. They can be considered a member of the djent movement, even though they, unlike their contemporaries, aren't as characteristically heavy.^[5] The band consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, and bassist Clay Gober.

Polyphia released their first EP Inspire in 2013,^[6] followed by their debut studio album, Muse, on April 21, 2015. Their second studio album, "Renaissance", was released on March 11th, 2016.

Members

• Timothy Henson – guitar (2011–present)
• Scott LePage – guitar (2011–present)
• Clay Gober – bass guitar (2012–present)

Former members

• Brandon Burkhalter – drums (2011–2014; 2015–2016)
• Randy Methe – drums (2014–2015)
• Lane Duskin – vocals (2011-2012)
• Hunter Avant – vocals (2012)

Reception

Metal Injection wrote in their review of Muse that "Basically, if you're looking for some really great instrumental music that stays away from the pitfalls of modern instrumental metal and will not be leaving your rotation anytime soon, grab Muse. Or if you're looking for a few songs to hum madly to yourself throughout your daily life because they simply will not leave your head… again, this album right here. Get it." ^[7]

Discography

Studio albums

• Muse (2014, Re-release 2015) Equal Vision
• Renaissance (2016) Equal Vision

EPs

• Inspire (2013)

Demos

• Resurrect (2011)

References

1. on Facebook. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
2. "Polyphia premiere "Aviator" music video featuring Chelsea Grin's Jason Richardson – exclusive", Guitar World, April 27, 2015, retrieved November 23, 2015
3. "Polyphia". Equal Vision Records. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
4. Dunlop Sessions: Polyphia. YouTube. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
5. "Listen to Polyphia", Metal Sucks, March 8, 2015, retrieved November 23, 2015
6. "Music – Polyphia". Polyphia. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
7. "Album Review: POLYPHIA Muse – Metal Injection". Retrieved 2015-09-30.