Protest The Hero
Fortress

"Hi, is everything okay? I'm back to work and I'm already fed up with it, luckily there's still a three-day weekend coming.. Have you heard of Protest the Hero? The singer is absolutely mind-blowing.."

"Hey there, old screamer de Dios, everything's good here, sorry about work, I know it's tough over there.. No, I haven't heard them yet, what's this singer like?"

"Well, he's sort of like Mike Patton, cleaner in the high notes, but you've got to hear him, he changes his voice fifty times in five minutes.."

"Damn, I'll look into this new phenomenon, you know I'm an omnivorous devourer of vocally prodigious offspring.. You've piqued my interest..".

So, Protest the Hero, let's see, album... Fortress.., it must be mine!

Got it! Let's see what these new phenomena are up to: I've read they're Canadian, active since 1999, very young, classified as a metalcore/mathcore band.. Hmm, I have my doubts.. But if my metal-mentor assures me it's worth it, I won't hesitate further..

The first track "Bloodmeat" starts, progressive intro in Rush style ("YYZ") with more speed, the drummer assaults the double bass, snare, and toms, guitar scales building up, then Rody Walker comes in with a vocal line holding tones worthy of Mr. Cedric Blixter.. I'm a bit baffled, these are prog accelerations and breaks, but hold on.. Hardcore drive with screaming, tempo changes, symphonic melodic opening, with solemn female singing.. No, it’s still him..

More screams, odd tempos, Muse-style falsetto, Patton-like vocal harmonics go wild following breaks and guitar and drum tempos, and it picks up with a prog hardcore that gives way, shortly after, to a calm and melodic break, with another symphonic opening closed by a heavy Pantera-esque riff in growl mode..

Well, I'm baffled.. What kind of music is this? I don't know.. Let's move on..

"The Dissentience": Slayer-like intro, the voice ranges from high notes to scream and growl, then the tempo slows down into a strange odd-time prog.. Stop and go, and then off with frantic drive, continuous guitar scales, tempo changes (The drummer is a monster, it's clear after just two tracks..), solemn openings and a death close.. Moving on..

"Bone Marrow", opening with just drums, prog guitar scales, frantic hardcore drive.. It sounds like the singer of Mars Volta under a beastly groove.. Scream, growl, solemn voice, guitarists in perpetual tapping and climbing steep scales. Then everything stops after yet another flurry, very sweet keyboard notes accompanied by acoustic guitar close the piece.. I didn't expect this.. "Sequoia Throne" is absurd: explosive start, frantic tempo, a desire to overdo at all costs.. But when does he catch his breath? How does he switch from growl tones, piercing screams, to clean highs and falsettos? Continuous tempo changes and melodies linked together in a bizarre and unimaginable way, conceived only by genius minds quite out of their minds, flow into a single song with a logical thread.. I'm tempted to take the CD out and throw it out the window, go outside and stomp on it with both feet.. Everything else doesn't stray much from what I've tried to describe above..

Absurd band, I recommend it to lovers of the absurd neurotic mad metal genre, forty minutes of musical madness..

Devastating