The Protomen
Act II - The Father of Death

I'll say it right away: the short hour that comprises this album will be one of the best-spent ones of your lives. At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I can confidently say that this is one of the most beautiful records I've ever listened to.

This group, The Protomen, has earned a following of fans that follow them everywhere and worship them, and in my humble opinion, it is completely deserved.

The band, composed of ten members, is on their second album, this "Act II – The Father of Death," which actually serves as a prequel to the story told in the first album, self-titled, renamed by fans "Act I – The Sons of Fate."

Yes, because the narrative in this album is a story, configuring this record and the previous one as a rock opera. The story draws inspiration from the Mega Man video game saga, from which it picks characters and situations, while granting itself many licenses, steering the story into a tragic dystopian tale in which the evil Dr. Wily takes control of the city, ruling it through robots and machines, keeping the population both psychologically and physically enslaved, with evident citations from novels like "1984" by Orwell and "Brave New World" by Huxley.

After the brief intro “Intermission,” in “The Good Doctor,” a song with a western flavor, two main characters are immediately presented, Albert Wily and Thomas Light, the antithesis of each other. The latter has suffered the loss of his father, who "worked himself into the grave" as a miner to support his family. Together with his brotherly friend Wily, he decides to create robots that would handle the heaviest tasks on behalf of humans. However, Dr. Light has second thoughts, realizing that he and his colleague have ventured too far. They activate the machines, with Light leaving the lab, overwhelmed by doubts about the city's future and Wily's real intentions.

Arriving home to reach his beloved, Emily (a character not present in the video game series), Light discovers that Wily had arrived before him, accompanied by one of his robots. Emily refuses Albert's offer to go away with him in “Father of Death,” and the latter orders the robot to kill her. Thomas arrives too late, finding the knife used to kill Emily; the police find him just as he's examining the knife and, thinking he was responsible for the murder, chase him.

While Light is being hunted, in “The Hounds,” Wily holds a press conference accusing the former friend and colleague of the murder, promising that this act will not go unpunished.

Trialed in “The State Vs. Thomas Light,” Dr. Light escapes the death sentence but is pursued by the crowd who, believing him to be a murderer due to Wily's words, want him dead (“Give us the Rope”).

With Light ostracized, Wily is free to carry out his plan without any resistance. In the following years, citizens become increasingly dependent on the machines, which have become an indispensable component of their lives, transforming the city into a hyper-technological metropolis (“How the World Fell into Darkness“).

The narrative resumes several years later, introducing us to a new character, Joe, reminiscent of Sniper Joe, the enemies in Mega Man; in this second part, there is an evident stylistic shift that harks back to the rock of the '70s/'80s, with abundant use of synths and rhythms akin to power ballads. In “Breaking Out,” Joe, tired of what the city has become, plans to escape, chased by the "red-eyed demon," which is none other than the robot that killed Emily years before.

When in “Keep Quiet,” he realizes he is being followed, he faces the robot in combat, managing to damage it and hold out until an elderly Dr. Light enters the scene to destroy the “demon” and save Joe, offering him the green helmet of the robot, with an even more evident nod to the video game character.

Together, the two plan to overthrow Wily and finally free the city in “Light up the Night,” a charged and engaging rock song: Joe manages to break into the antenna tower that allows Wily to spy on citizens and instill his lies into their minds.

Aboard his motorcycle, Joe plants the explosive in the tower to destroy the transmitter in “The Fall“, but tragically dies in the explosion.

However, Wily had not been caught unprepared, having already set up another transmitter in case of attack, and thanks to this assault, he has the opportunity to completely take control of the city, placing it under martial law.

In “Here Comes the Arm,” Dr. Light initially thinks of surrendering and handing himself over to Wily's army of robots; he finally reads the last letter Emily wrote him the night she died, which he had never found the strength to read. Finding strength in his beloved's words, Thomas abandons the suicide attempt and, referring to Joe, asks him to tell his beloved to wait for him still, as he feels he still has work to do.

The album closes, as Light removes the helmet from Joe's lifeless body and flees into the darkness while Wily's army approaches.

The story continues in Act I, which, however, features radically different stylistic and production characteristics, with rawer and more immediate sounds.

Apologies for the possibly excessive prolixity, but I felt that a minimum summary of the story was necessary to explain what is being narrated.

The listening of this unique album is truly recommended to all of you, perhaps even before Act I, to better understand the story it tells.

A special note for the booklet, indispensable for understanding both the narrated parts and the dialogues contained in the singing, which is curated and graphically sublime.

Enjoy listening!