Protest The Hero - Within - review
Protest The Hero - Within - review
Tracklist
01. Mouthpiece02. Fishhook
03. l. Above
04. Grandfather’s Axe
05. The Orchard
06. lI. Below
07. Liberty Spike
08. The Mariner
A review by
musclassia July 16, 2026
The Canadians are looking quite different to how they did back on Palimpsest. Drummer Mike Ieradi departed in 2022, while founding member Luke Hoskin retired from live performances to become a studio-only member. Core duo Rody Walker and Tim MacMillar are joined by long-time session bassist and producer Cameron McLellan and session drummer Nathan Bulla on Within, while Ben Davis, Henry Selva and Matt Kidby fill in the ranks around Walker and MacMillar live. While these are turbulent times, Protest The Hero move forward undeterred, as Within is their first fully independent release, and with full control over their destiny at last, the band are eager to explore music without constraints.
However, this is also a good opportunity to look within and take stock, and after Palimpsest’s quite niche conceptual look at Depression-era USA, Within is thematically introspective. Similarly, on the musical front there are elements of the album that both continue the direction that the band had been on since Volition while also touching base with long-running influences. The symphonic arrangements that first seriously emerged on 2016’s Pacific Myth and featured extensively across Palimpsest are once more given space to shine, primarily during the “I. Above” and “II. Below” interludes, while the increasingly audible punk inspiration from the likes of Propagandhi that shaped several songs on Palimpsest remains a key feature on the likes of “Fishhook”.
The album rips into action with “Mouthpiece”, a song that demonstrates that Protest The Hero’s riff game is as technical as ever. The tone of the song feels broadly in line with that of Volition, with occasional gutturals and screams contrasted by Rody Walker’s intense high-register clean-sung voice unleashing high-octane verses and hooky choruses in tandem with contorting guitars. Walker’s voice had blown out in 2018, but already sounded in good shape by the time of 2020’s Palimpsest. The experience is explored lyrically on closing song “The Mariner”, but his vocals are at full strength on Within, adding an escalating tension to the build towards the end of “Mouthpiece” and a ferocity to its climax.
“Fishhook” is a quick change of pace, going straight into punk beats and simpler fast-paced riffs; with how short Within is, there is occasionally a bit of whiplash with how much it fluctuates in approach, but this is the most extreme example of it, going from the technicality of “Mouthpiece” to the straightforward nature of “Fishhook”. The song does go in a more classically Protest The Hero direction briefly in a mid-song bridge, but sticks to the upbeat melodic punk approach for most of its duration, paying off nicely with its triumphant conclusion.
The two interludes mentioned earlier add some nice structure to the album; “I. Above” in particular is very soothing with the build of its strings arrangements. Still, the relative lack of orchestrations across the album otherwise compared with Palimpsest does make them feel a tad out of place. As for what the rest of the album has in store, “Grandfather’s Axe” reaches further back into the band’s past with its mix of groove and technicality, with a lot of exuberant vocal arrangements and some big brass flair in the pre-chorus, while closer “The Mariner” flexes the band’s prog muscles with structural complexity spanning elements from the more classical complexity to those punk influences heard on “Fishhook” re-emerging, before rounding off with a grand and evocative sing-along conclusion.
Given the relative paucity of material on the album, I do find myself wishing that I did find more of its contents to have a higher level of memorability or impact on me; thinking back to its predecessor, nothing here has grabbed me in the way a “From The Sky” or “The Fireside” did, let alone their earlier material. In fact, it took me quite a few listens for “Liberty Spike” to make much impression at all. Still, there is a lot of enjoy here, and none more so than “The Orchard”, a lushly vibrant and melodic affair with delightfully upbeat guitar runs, a truly anthemic chorus, rousing gang shouts, and a closing cameo from I believe long-running collaborator Jadea Kelly over tender final acoustic chords. It’s a song that demands one’s attention on every playthrough, and is the clear album highlight for me.
I think Protest The Hero are always going to be somewhat doomed to be trapped in the long shadows left by Kezia and Fortress, two albums that paired youthful exuberance with incredibly talented songwriting. Nonetheless, while nothing since has quite reached those heights for me, everything they’ve put out has had plenty to savour and come back to. There’s a bit less to savour here purely in terms of length (which barely exceeds that of the EP Pacific Myth), but what there is demonstrates that the band are firmly alive and well in spite of the line-up turbulence of the past decade, and are firing on all cylinders with their creativity fully unshackled from corporate influence.
Written on 16.07.2026 by
Written on 16.07.2026 by
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