You might lose teeth...

Protest the Hero - Fortress

Jesus fucking Christ.

This album kicks you in the face with steel toes from the first track, "Blood Meat", and doesn't let you up for air until the "Goddess" has been "Gagged".

For no other reason than to write this review, I had to get my hands on a copy of Protest's debut album from 2005, Kezia.  I had to hear the roots from which this technical finesse had sprung forth.

Where Kezia seemed like an effort to construct an identity for Protest the Hero, Fortress holds the band much more comfortably within their post-hardcore punk/metal chains.  While the fact that every song on this album is pounding and in your face is a cool aesthetic, it could wear you out from time to time.  Protest only gives you about 45 seconds of breathing time halfway through the album.  

"Palms Read" ends with a chanting anthem ("raise your glass...") that fuzzes away into nothing, before abruptly kicking your ass with one of the most showy displays of technical guitar I have seen in quite some time.  Drop a pompous "circus riff" in there for good measure, and you're launched right into "Limb from Limb", my personal favorite from the album.  "Limb from Limb" employs a Castlevania-esque 8-bit guitar riff section that make me want to loop it forever.

Overall, Protest the Hero has come a long way from it's already dynamite debut album Kezia.  Assuming that they give me enough time to nurse my Fortress-induced wounds, I sincerely look forward to whatever Protest the Hero can craft next.

8.0/10