Protest The Hero
Scurrilous

When, a couple of years ago, I first listened to Protest The Hero, I didn't understand anything. Then, driven by my good will, I listened to them again. Still, I didn't get it. But I liked them, of that I was (and still am) more than sure.

Listening to them is not easy; in fact, their music is probably one of the most difficult to appreciate, their schizophrenic rhythms and their exasperating tapping can leave you confused, baffled, and easily irritated. Their songs literally go off on a tangent, and you can’t tell where they are heading. The term "stream of consciousness" is more than overused these days; it has been downright harassed and almost become a subject of stalking, but in their case, it fits perfectly. If I had to choose a type of music that pairs well with reading Joyce's Ulysses, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. With each album, these crazy Canadians raise the bar of insanity, and with "Scurrilous," released just recently, they reach improbable levels of musical madness. Trying to describe the tracks is an almost impossible task because they seem dictated by a total incoherence that, upon closer inspection, is just an absolutely indiscriminate use of the expressive freedom of music. Kudos to the singer Rody Walker, capable of singing over the pentagrammed madness of Protest The Hero's songs and having, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and powerful voices in the global metal scene.

In conclusion, an album I highly recommend to all those capable of appreciating the inscrutable.