The album was re-released on February 6, 2012 as a 'Special Edition' including instrumentals, along with a new song "Passenger", originally recorded by guitarist Mark Holcomb during his time in the band Haunted Shores.

A writer for AbsolutePunk said that despite Sotelo's "frog-like" screams being weak throughout the track listing, the record contains solid lyricism and musicianship that add support to Sotelo's singing, concluding that "From beginning to end, Periphery's self titled debut is a wonder to behold, and in my mind, will inspire modern metal for the next decade, and with the sincerity, originality, and technical abilities of this band, that can only be a good thing.

"[3] Gregory Heaney of AllMusic praised the band for constructing a mixture of "blistering fretwork, extreme tunings, and studio magic" that's reminiscent of Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan without sounding overproduced, concluding that "By pushing the production to such limits, the album manages to blast through the typical production clichés to create a sonic assault […] making Periphery an album that'll give lovers of prog metal something to sink their teeth into.

"[4] Richard Cartey of Rock Sound admired the band's unique amalgam of "steady lyrical patterns" through a "polyrhythmic maze" to craft their own blueprint of progressive metal but pointed out their overreliance on mimicking fellow band Sikth to attain that creative spark, concluding with, "Though there are some remarkably beautiful sections, ultimately Periphery’s palette is limited and struggles to support itself for all 73 minutes.

"[5] All lyrics are written by Chris Barretto, except where noted; all music is composed by PeripheryNotes The following tracks were cut from the final album.