Protest The Hero - Fortress - review
Protest The Hero - Fortress - review
Tracklist
On Conquest And Capture01. Bloodmeat
02. The Dissentience
03. Bone Marrow
(Untitled)
04. Sequoia Throne
05. Palms Read
06. Limb From Limb
07. Spoils
Isosceles
08. Wretch
09. Goddess Bound
10. Goddess Gagged
A review by
jupitreas January 26, 2008
This is not to say that this album is just Kezia part two. Fortress marks a noticeable improvement over the band's style. The music here goes even further into progressive metal realms, with some choruses that wouldn't be out of place on a power metal record. Not being a fan of a neo-classical approach to metal, I am extremely surprised at how much I still enjoy this stuff! Perhaps it is because the band still opts not to ever play a riff more than a maximum of three times throughout a song, or maybe it is the fact that Dream Theater probably would never follow an epic chorus with a Pattonesque barrage of screams over a Panzerfaust breakdown. Protest The Hero reinvents metal by their technical and frankly insane approach. This young Canadian metalcore band easily outplays the big names in melodic metal and it is almost scary how well they do it.
Fans of more extreme music shouldn't look the other way either. Fortress, for all of its forays into Queen harmonized vocals and insane arpeggios (one on a keytar!), still mainly relies on absolutely frantic paces, chaotic screaming and the occasional riff that would make Scott Ian blush ("Spoils"). Rody Walker's soaring vocals still retain a bit of a 'whiny' quality to them; however, there is no denying his abilities at belting out a tune and occasionally screaming his throat apart.
I suppose the only inevitable criticism of music like this is that, since the band includes a barrage of different elements in every song, one cant help but wish certain riffs or motives would be given more room to breathe. Take the wonderful riff appearing about 2 minutes 50 seconds into "Bloodmeat", for example. We hear it for about 5 seconds and then its gone...
Clearly, it is obvious by the above description that analysing particular songs here is a lost cause. Just know that there are plenty of brilliant riffs, solos and choruses here. You might not enjoy every single approach taken by the band on this album; however, it would be a sin not to check it out anyway. This is music that deserves to be heard.
Rating:
9.0
9.0
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Rating:
9.0 |
Protest The Hero has a love/hate thing going on... either you like it, or I hate you. Honestly folks, this is one of the best albums I've ever heard. I was a musical virgin going in, and a technicality slut coming out. This is a must hear album. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments:
16
Visited by
285 users
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Posts: 461  |
Posts: 461
Amazing album indeed, totally agree with you jupitreas
---- Stay Br00tal!
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Posts: 547  |
Posts: 547
i highly enjoyed kezia, and i'm really looking forward to hearing this one. what would you guys rate this as?
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 Posts: 868 |
Posts: 868
This band surprised me! Kezia and Fortress are both great albums. Very technical and catchy at the same time!
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Posts: 268  |
Posts: 268
"Perhaps it is because the band still opts not to ever play a riff more than a maximum of three times " That sounds like hell. I'm gonna go listen to Summoning.
---- As above, so below.
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Posts: 825  |
Posts: 825
Oh man, this album does really, really rules. Thanks a lot for your review. And now that you don't give ratings, one has an higher expectation of 'how much' would an album with possitive review rule.
---- My account on other musical pages: http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/ http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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Posts: 673  |
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Posts: 57  |
Posts: 57
I dunno, I found that initially this album appears to lack structure and innovation. It appears to have a bunch of fast riffs all over the place. But after you listen to this album like 4 or 5 times, it gets way better. To give this album a fair shot you must give it time. Im not a fan of metal core, specifically the breakdown aspects. But this album is great, even the breakdowns show a level of ability that I had not yet seen. Kudos to you Protest!
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 Posts: 8902 |
Posts: 8902 Written by b0000mst1ck on 26.01.2008 at 15:42 I would give it about an 8.5 - 9.0. This album is amazing.
---- (space for rent)
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Posts: 547 |
Posts: 547 Written by Dane Train on 06.03.2008 at 23:55 yeah, after hearing it a few times i'd give it an 8.5. it's a really good album and you can hear how they've improved since kezia. definitely a must-have (for you open-minded music fans, of course).
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 Posts: 9575 |
Posts: 9575
I listened to bloodmeat what a terrible song!!! if they're all like this these guys suck!!! 
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 Posts: 2574 |
Posts: 2574 Written by Boxcar Willy on 02.12.2009 at 17:01 Are you kidding? That's a kick-ass song. Well, this is band is not for you if you didn't like that track... Don't listen any further.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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Posts: 341  |
Posts: 341
Listening to this album atm and it's really impressive one, especially for such a young band.
---- Li'ed - Prog-Metal from Jerusalem https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aZWDrAAvDSLMaSmDSE8zA https://www.facebook.com/LiedBandMusic http://lied-band.bandcamp.com/
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Posts: 9575 Written by K✞ulu on 03.12.2009 at 00:00 I hate having posts from 2 years ago.  so... Long story short, is that I had multiple eargasms while listening to this.
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Posts: 2574 Written by Boxcar Willy on 05.01.2012 at 17:54 Conclusion: tastes change. Well, I am glad you enjoy it. Awesome song and awesome album.
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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 Posts: 21306 |
Posts: 21306 Written by Boxcar Willy on 05.01.2012 at 17:54 Just wait until you look back on some of your old reviews. 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Posts: 9575 |
Posts: 9575 Written by Troy Killjoy on 05.01.2012 at 21:00 What are you trying to say?
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