Band:	Protest The Hero
Album:	Fortress
Style:	Progressive metalcore
Release date:	January 2008

On Conquest And Capture
01. 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

Fortress, Protest The Hero's latest album, is definitely one of the most anticipated releases this year, which is really hardly a surprise considering what a smash hit their debut excursion into kitchen sink metal, Kezia, turned out to be. Those who enjoyed the band's previous attempt at totally schizophrenic yet catchy music will be happy to hear that, by and large, Fortress is more of the same just better and more mature.

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.