Album Review
Protest The Hero - FortressProtest The Hero - Fortress

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
 Band Members
Protest The Hero - Band
Rody Walker (Vocals)
Tim Millar (Guitars, Vocals)
Luke Hoskin (Guitars, Vocals, Piano)
Moe Carlson (Drums)
Arif Mirabdolbaghi (Bass, Vocals)
 Track Listing
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
 Band Related Links
Protest The Hero Myspace
Protest The Hero Official Website
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?