 Protest The Hero - www.protestthehero.com
Kezia (released 2006)
Underground Operations - www.undergroundoperations.com
While it's not important to my review, it apparently is important to other, and so I will state it as well: the band is a collective of five teenagers. The band has been together for four years and have mangaed to release a well-received EP and "Kezia", their full-length debut album. Unfortunately, Hussieskunk didn't get a chance to review the band's first effort, but we were conscious of their meteoric rise in the ranks of metal, punk and rock circles. If you consider yourself a member of the underground of any of the previously mentioned genres, then you know Protest The Hero. All of that aside, I'm here to give you my two cent interpretation of the band and specifically, this album "Kezia". So to start the musicianship is simply incredible! I mean incredible! The vocals soar with the guitars, there are scream and wails, the drums and bass rattle your teeth, combined Protest The Hero offers orchestral experience that many akin to the rebirth of metal, hardcore or rock. I don't care what is being reborn, it's fucking great music that's loud and exciting to hear! Protest The Hero manage to offer something to every sub-genre of rock; hardcore music being the most obvious, but more important is the sheer volume of power and creative sound seemingly oozes from the band on this album. That ooze makes Protest The Hero desirable in many circles to be the saving grace of a particular genre, is that enough pressure for some guys barely out of high school? I'm not here to debate that, but it does put the band at a point that makes them have to deliver. Alright, I'm getting off point... Back to the matter at hand, the music is undoubtably amazing, simply put the band has crafted one of the best albums of the year through their sheer musical prowress and attentiveness to even the most inconsequential musical note. Where I draw a difference between other reviewers is in the lyrics offered up by the band. I just don't get it. Am I missing something? I read through the entire lyric sheet, and aside from a few references to civilization, Christ, American daughters and a few other hot button issues, I didn't make sense out of any song. I took everything in from each track, read through the lyrics thoroughly, but nothing made much sense. Maybe it's my background as an engineer, where I want things spelled out...cold hard facts. What I read through "Kezia" is a bunch of metaphors, that loosely translate into protest music of sorts. Maybe I'm reluctant to believe that teenagers fully comprehend the world as a whole, let alone offer a coherent opinion of it, but I shouldn't be so critical and accept it for what it is...good goddam music. If you can read into the metaphors the band lays out, then you are a more interpretive person than I am, but I'm sure we'll find something in common, that this album simply sounds incredible. Do not miss, as Protest The Hero are destined to provide a new path through the overgrown hardcore scene! -MG |
