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Review Summary: Progression- For Better or Worse, Whatever as Always After listening to this album, it's difficult to say that it didn't require a ton of skill to create all 10 tracks. Whether it's the main riff in Termites, which shows Tim Millar's proficiency with the guitar, or Tongue-Splitter which puts Rody's voice on display, it's clear that no five average guys could accomplish Protest the Hero did with this album. The band itself claimed the album to be more progressive than its predecessors, and they surely delivered on that claim. However, there's only so much you can fit on one album, and there truly is a point where progression eats away at the value of an album.
Now, I'm in no way saying that Arif's bass "solo" on Tongue-Splitter, the odd beat structure in the instrumental part of Moonlight, the high pitched guitar near the end of Tapestry, the bass heavy ending of Sex Tapes, or the guitar driven ending of C'est la Vie didn't make their respective songs better. It's simply the fact that the quantity of progression started to hurt this album's values. There's going to be people who miss the heavy piano usage in Fortress, and the little excerpts at the ends of songs ("Do you want to see the galaxy?" at the end of Wretch), and well there's going to be people who miss every damn thing that the band put behind them with this new progressive outlook. And what better way to top off progression than to change your lyricist! The scope of the album went from such philosophical songs like Palms Read on Fortress to a song on Scurrilous simply dedicated to a band (The Reign of Unending Terror). Protest the Hero fans clung to Fortress like they wouldn't have survived without it. Heck, they might not have. And with all these differences, early fans might be disappointed with the album. The progression might interest some listeners who could become the band's next generation of fans, but at the cost of shedding the winning formula from Fortress.
Protest the Hero is always going to be the skilled act that they are regardless of the direction they begin to take, but their best days are behind them if they feel the need to continue to reform their music to as great as an extent as they have done here.
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Athom EMERITUS (4)
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MTObsidian (4)
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jitteryzeitgeist (4)
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MetallicmanD1 (5)
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Prog-metal’s Heroes come back more vigorous and aggressive than ever....
Tyrael (4.5)
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GLaDOS (3.5)
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I'm still on the fence about picking this up. Fortress was great, I kinda don't want to spoil that.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
If you haven't listened to Fortress until you've gotten blue in the face, I suggest you put Scurrilous on temporary hold. However, as the rating said it's a "great" album, so it's certainly worth picking up.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Im just gunna say it....why did this have to be reviewed again???
Fine, ill look at the review on its own merits. Its short as heck, and only addresses the band's skill and progressiveness compared to their last album. This really doesn't tell me anything about this cd...oh wait, there are 7 other reviews I can read to find out about this album
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Well I tried not to summarize but maybe had too small of a scope as a result. I think anybody can summarize an album, but not everyone can provide insight into a particular aspect of the album. You could've said that douchey "I'm just gunna say it" comment to the first review for this album, since the album had probably been reviewed by allmusic and a bunch of other sources at that time. This was supposed to be a little different from a generic review, which is why I did this despite the album being reviewed 7 other times.
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love this album, really growing on me. it flows so well, and the musicianship is top-notch. I gotta check out their other albums.
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Nice dense review, good work
I like the album, but Fortress was better
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Thats weird i thought everyone listened to kezia until they were blue in the face... I liked Kezia A LOT more.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
This was all kinds of awesome for about a month, and now it's lost just about all of its replay value.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
short, succinct, and well-written. good review. i might finally get around to picking this up
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This is better than fortress.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
This is better than fortress.
NAY.
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