Protest the Hero Album: “Fortress”

While it may be early in the year, after listening to "Fortress" nonstop for the last two weeks, I think I can safely say that this will end up in my top three for the year. It's not very often that an album comes along, that is so good that it shatters all preconceptions that you had about a particular genre and creates its own.This becomes clear in the first 60 seconds of "Bloodmeat". Everything that is thrown into the blender really would look like a mess on paper, but it all comes through so clear and perfect. Think of the Mars Volta with Coheed and Cambria, rocking out with Iron Maiden and Dream Theater, all conducted by Frank Zappa with his trademark sense of humor surfacing here and there. There's also a strong pop sensibility that runs throughout the whole album that lets you know these guys haven't forgotten that this is indeed a rock album. It may be proggy and dense, but never to the point where it is completely impenetrable. Vocals range from clean, nasal, screaming and grunting. Very diverse, but every style is right for the part. And the guitars...my god, the guitars.

While describing an album that you're really excited about, it's hard not to throw around adjectives like "amazing" and "mind-blowing", and "stunning", but after one listen, I think you'll agree with me. The musicianship is top-notch, to say the least. The song structures are other-worldly. There is not one wasted note in the whole mix. It also has to be said that it never sounds the same twice.

Without any reservation whatsoever, it gets a 10/10 from me. Ignore the samples here and just get the album. If you're already here looking and you've managed to get all the way through my review, then it's almost a guarantee that you've found your album. Enjoy.

After being an avid listener of metalcore for a few years now, I've come across a vast array of bands that attempt to be technical, progressive, or just unique in any way and end up failing miserably. I thought this would always be the case until the day I popped in my earbuds and listened to Fortress. Suffice to say I was surprised. I would easily go so far as to say this is the quintessential technical metalcore album.

The main thing one will notice and most likely be impressed by on this album is the musicianship. Fortress, while still metalcore at heart, takes a much more metal-sounding approach than the previous album, Kezia, allowing for more "wiggle room" with the music. The guitarists come up with a decent variety of entertainingly clever riffs and fills throughout the album, generally tending to exude a somewhat "epic" sound. Bassist Arif has his shining moments, as well; there are a few solos throughout the album, and aside from this, he is audible through the entire record, which can be rare for a bassist. Drummer Moe exhibits some sick sticksmanship, whether pounding on the double bass drums or cracking out a nice jazzy fill. But the single most impressive aspect about the musicianship on the album is this: every instrument flows together. Perfectly. There is never a song where the guitarists take front-and-center with an all-consuming solo, or anything of the sort. At any moment in time throughout the album one could listen closely and state something notable about any given musician playing at the point. This musical union is, in my humble opinion, a rarely attained and highly valuable feat in the world of metalcore, and is a primary reason why I find this album to me so satisfying.

As for the vocals...well, let's just say Rody Walker has some pipes. High-pitched pipes, but pipes nonetheless. The clean vocals given by Walker are extremely proficient, hitting extremely high notes with ease and always remaining accessible. His harsh vocals are strategically placed and never overbearing; the high screams always fit perfectly with the accompanying music and his low-pitched growls add good emphasis to any part in which they appear. While the vocals may take some getting used to for many listeners, I find them to be both pleasurable and more than sufficient for their purpose. The lyrics in the album, which tell about war, goddess worship, and all sorts of oddly fantastical subjects, do occasionally seem to be a bit far-fetched. However, they often fit well with the epic-sounding atmospheres radiated by the musicians.

Something that you may think Protest the Hero will still have trouble with, even with all their musical prowess, is repetition. All too often, bands with incredible amounts off potential fail to reach it because they are unable to write a song that is differentiable from their others. Protest the Hero strike down this stereotype, too, though. Some guitar riffs do seem a tad recycled at times, but each song on this album is distinctively different from the next, and there is not a single one that fails to bring something utterly different to the table. Due to this, it is hard to specify strong tracks on the album, because they are all just plain delightful...and this could be nothing but a very, very good thing for Protest the Hero.

To end, I shall say this: buy this album, in the name of all that is holy, unholy, and everything in between. This record is, to be frank, the best album I've heard in ages. To hear such young musicians producing such fantastic music does my heart good, and makes me absolutely giddy to hear what they have in store for the future. I think it goes unsaid that I've already preordered Scurrilous.

Maybe I fell in love with this album when "like suicide, like suicide" in "Palms Read" is wailed over an instrumental ensemble that communicates any emotions or message that Protest the Hero choose to lay over it with vocals, but in this example perfectly enfuses the listener with angst.

Or maybe it was when I heard "Wretch" in its entirety for the first time and got lost in its intricate web of riffs, rhythms, and guitar effects that change up and mix themselves around like aces in a deck of cards, but are somehow always found in the chaos and pulled out without error or hesitation in exactly the right order in the manner of a street magician.

Maybe it was when the piano solo at the end of "Spoils" came on and I realized that this band could pull off multiple genres while retaining their emotionally charged touch that gives every song on Fortress its incredible quality.

Maybe it was when I realized that every time I listened to this album it always imbued me with a hopeful, optimistic mood despite its moody, often tense and sometimes violent lyrics.

Maybe it was when I realized that when I listened to certain particularly evocative passages of songs, my thoughts turn to someone I hold particularly close in my heart. My feelings are perfectly matched by the angst-filled lyrics due to a certain ambiguity and reticence I feel in the relationship I have with this person. But its hard to not to think my anxious mood is merely love when Rody Walker belts out "she is the dusk, she is the dawn, she is the moon, she is the stars" amidst a soaring background, followed up by a otherwordly solo and then a dizzying barrage of guitar that makes what little of my brain that's still thinking sensibly completely melt. And then, as if to pull me back to Earth, rebuking me for dreaming while everything is getting away from me, he screams "SHE IS HERE, SHE IS GONE!". Against some fading guitar tones, he repeats, as if only to me, in a whisper: she is gone.

Yeah, I'm about 12 listens in, and Fortress blows away anything else I have heard in 2008, any other metal album I have ever heard (except maybe Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age), and as each song flies by me again, it climbs up my top 20 album alltime ranking spot by spot.

If you have not heard this album, hear it, as soon as possible. You will probably not be blown away on first listen - there is simply too much to take in, as some songs have 15-20 separate riffs and musical themes in their 3-5 minutes. Don't be turned off by the occasional death-metalish growled vocal or shrieked high note. Don't be intimidated by Dragonforce-esque soloes (one of their guitarists actually guests on one track and rips off two amazing soloes) that are mind-numbingly fast yet retain their musical qualities and tonal value on listen after listen, gaining luster and coherence with each successive play.

And, because this is at its heart a metal album, even if it strays frequently from "metal" with its forays into subtle horn and string sections as well as piano soloes and dramatic pauses, do not be afraid to crank this thing's volume until the riffs bleed out into you and you meld with the tones and make them your own. Yeah, I get a little poetic and indulgent in language when talking about this album.

And a little damp in the underwear as well.

Rating: 9.5

It is that simple. This is the best album I have ever heard. I am not overstating my enthusiasm. It's rare that I would throw out the word perfect, but this album is extremely close. No band, as far as I know, has ever done anything close to what Protest the Hero has done on Fortress. The guitars switch from extremely fast and technical, to heavy, chugging riffage, to groovy, catchy riffage. The changes happen at break-neck speed that would make the Dillinger Escape Plan blush. As someone already noticed, not a single note is wasted.

The lyrics are brutal. The vocals vary in range as much as the guitars do. He switches from hi-pitched melodic singing to hi-pitched punk screams to mid-range and low-range growls. The vocals always fit with whatever instrumentals are occurring at that time.

If you're tired of the direction metal is heading, (IE the thousands of metalcore bands producing the same crap and high fiving each other as they run away with your money) give Protest the Hero a shot. If you're into the hardcore scene, but are looking for something a bit more technical, give Protest the Hero a shot. If you've never listened to metal in your life or think it sucks, give Protest the Hero a shot. Will this album make you like metal as a whole? Probably not, but only because they are setting new standards for metal and single handedly steering metal in a more progressive direction.

BUY THIS ALBUM. GET IT ASAP.

This definately gets a huge nob as the best album of 2008. Protest the Hero have stepped up their enitre existence this time around. The evolution from their previous album Kezia to Fortress is phenominal. The band is playing like no one else in the genre today. Their inovation and use of sweeping arppeggios and finger tapping greatness knows no bounds. While lead singer Rody has expanded his vocal range ten fold handling the deepest growls to the greatest high pitched singing since King diamond's Abigail. He has become one of the most distinct voices to grace the music scene today.

The album itself as an entity is excruciatingly heavy. Their creative edge on the riffs and musical stance in mind numbing. These Canadian geniuses are on the verge of setting a new standard for the way things should be done. Far away from the poppy crap that the "metal" scene has been spewing out for ages this is something fresh and revitalizing to stand up to the hip hop jugernaut currently dominating the air waves.

If you don't already have it get it. This album is not something to sleep on. If you do you are crazy retarded. Just buy it listen to it and forget about all the crap released in the past this is what metal or post hardcore or metalcore whatever you want to call it is supposed to be.