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Review |
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When Protest The Hero released their debut full-length
album Kezia in the middle of 2006 I never really
knew what to expect but was hooked straight away.
The album was a concept album that told a story
of a young woman’s execution, chronicled from
the perspective of three characters and each character
was designated a section containing three songs,
with a single retrospective finale concluding the
album. The album was technically amazing; it had
a lot going on at once and an overall sound that
we have never quite heard before.
Well Protest The Hero are back now with their
second full-length studio album Fortress, the
album takes a different approach from the previous
album in the way that it is a concept album like
Kezia but the difference is that is doesn’t
not revolve around a single concept and instead
is about the re-emerging of goddess worship and
the erosion of faith in scientific process
Fortress runs for 41 minutes and has been split
into three sections, the first has 3 tracks, the
second has 3 tracks and the final section has
4 tracks.
The album starts off with 'Bloodmeat'. The song
has an explosive heavy introduction with hectic
fast paced guitars, drums and bass firing out,
frontman Rody Walkers unique vocals soon come
in sounding as good as you would expect, the song
really focuses on technical guitar work and you
think the songs about to end on an epic sing a
long journey and just as you think the song is
over a hectic assault of guitars kick in for the
real outro.
'The Dissentience' is a fast paced song from
the start to the finish, the instrumental introduction
is pretty intense and technical with a lot going
on at once, the guitar solos are breath taking
and frontman Rody Walker sure knows how to use
his vocals as an impressive instrument as his
vocals enter territories that they have not entered
before with one minute, his vocals being quite
screamy, the next quite raw sounding and then
catchy and sing a long.
Average drumming opens up 'Bone Marrow', then
the song soon bursts into a heavy fast paced metal
song, the song is clever in the way that it starts
off quite mellow and then it climbs an aggressive
ladder before sliding back down to mellowness,
the instrumental work is once again really breathtaking
and technical and Rodys vocal style is forever
changing throughout the song, The thing that Protest
The Hero are really good at is tricking you into
thinking a song is finishing and then the style
changes for an outro that you just wouldn’t
expect and they have captured that feeling perfectly
here with 'Bone Marrow' the guitars are working
fast on what you initially think is the outro
and before you know it the guitars have finished
and a soft sounding piano ends the song.
The heavy guitar riffs and drum beats during
'Sequoia Throne' will remind the fans of the bands
previous album Kezia as the music on offer here
is quite similar and Rodys vocals are forever
switching from hectic screaming to more mellow
singing. 'Palms Read' starts with a similar introduction
to the previous song with its heavy constant drum
beats and fat meaty guitar riffs. As the song
goes on it switches from being heavy to being
quite melodic with fast paced guitar work and
the song finishes with catchy sing a long lyrics
of "For a million years, raise your glass
in cheers - we will never answer where we came
from only how we got here”. The song then
oddly launches into a minute long instrumental
assault which sounds pretty cool and takes a break
from the hecticness that surrounds the rest of
the album, the instrumental fires right into 'Limb
From Limb', another really hard hitting heavy
song that features lots of different sounds and
styles including Dragonforce style computerized
sounds.
Protest The Hero are really about making technical
music where a lot is going on at once and styles
are forever changing, the band have mastered tricking
people into thinking a song is ending before totally
changing the sound for the real outro, the band
also have some of the best introductions to songs
that I have ever come across, for example the
fast electronic sounding introduction to 'Spoils'
is so listenable yet so different from the overall
sound of the track and this is something Protest
The Hero pull off so well, they manage to change
their sound so many times through a track whilst
still making it extremely listenable and enjoyable.
The lyrics in Fortress are well written and extremely
clever in places and you can clearly tell that
Protest The Hero have spent a lot of time creating
every aspect of Fortress as their isn’t
a weak part on offer.
If you are a fan of the bands previous album
Kezia then you will love Fortress as it’s
10 times heavier than Kezia and the overall mixture
of the drums, guitars and bass is truly outstanding
throughout the whole album, the instrumental sounds
are so technical and forever changing giving you
a sound you will not get bored of in a hurry.
Kezia gained the band a strong fan base across
the world and Fortress is bound to double that
and add pressure for the band to carry on expanding
on their sound and delivering kick arse songs.
Expect to see Protest The Hero touring the world
throughout 2008 and also expect Fortress to be
in many peoples top 10 album list at the end of
the year.
5/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Rody Walker (Vocals)
Tim Millar (Guitars, Vocals)
Luke Hoskin (Guitars, Vocals, Piano)
Moe Carlson (Drums)
Arif Mirabdolbaghi (Bass, Vocals) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Bloodmeat
2. Dissentience
3. Bone Marrow
4. Sequoia Throne
5. Palms Read
6. Limb From Limb
7. Spoils
8. Wretch
9. Goddess Bound
10. Goddess Gagged |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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