CD Review

Title: Fortress

Artist: Protest The Hero

Label: Underground Operations/Universal

Released: January 29^th, 2008

2 ½ Stars

Reviewed By: Christopher Williams

I'll never understand head banging music; with schizophrenic drums, manic guitar playing, some guy trying to burst a blood vessel as the lead vocalist, and the intermittent sound of Satan sending subliminal messages in the background (Satan sounds the same in all head banging music). Protest The Hero's second full-length album, Fortress, lives up to its ‘progressive metal' name, with so many interchanges in a song that you feel as though you've listened to three for every one.

Bassist and lyricist Arif Mirabdolbaghi, explains that Fortress is about ‘the re-emerging of goddess worship and the erosion of faith in scientific process,' and the whole album, what lyrics you can relatively make sense of, are preachy in nature. Such as the track ‘Goddess Bound' which exclaims repeatedly ‘take everything your parents have taught you, take everything your school has taught you and throw it to the dogs.' Now most of the people I know who embrace the Goddess seem to be less of the metal-head variety and more of the flowing-folk-fellowship variety, so I don't quite know where Fortress fits in, and who it will ultimately appeal to. 

At times, the album has hints of a Meatloaf inspired Musical sound to it; as if Protest The Hero was inspired by the upcoming Repo! The Genetic Opera soon to be released. The only thing engaging about Fortress is a couple of tracks have a great sample of a tune that could actually be considered, if it was extended to the full track, to be a good song. One of the few examples of this is the song ‘Palm Read,' about three minutes into the five minute song you get to hear an almost sweet and more appetizing level of music. The song ‘Spoils' lets me know that Protest The Hero has musical intelligence as they have a fabulous introduction to the song done on the piano that was reminiscent of something Queen might have produced. Which got me thinking, I wished that Protest The Hero would work more of a Queen sound as they clearly have the potential and it is a sound not overdone or too mainstream.

Overall, Fortress by Protest The Hero had me reaching for the closest Tylenol available.

On Conquest and Capture

1. Bloodmeat
2. The Dissentience
3. Bone Marrow

---

4. Sequoia Throne
5. Palms Read
6. Limb from Limb
7. Spoils

Isosceles

8. Wretch
9. Goddess Bound
10. Goddess Gagged