Album Review: Volition by Protest the Hero

Even with all the editorials published and industry opinions offered claiming that crowd funding is the way of the future, the science is still far from exact. For every Chimaira, who more than doubled their thirty thousand dollar goal for a "fan" CD/DVD edition of Crown of Phantoms, there's an Orgy, who with thirty one hours left at the time of this writing have only raised around eight grand of a hoped for hundred grand to start their own label and make a new record. Even with that caveat, the fact that Protest the Hero turned a hundred and twenty five thousand dollar goal into nearly three times that amount understandably generated a lot of press, and probably lent a fair bit of credence to pro-crowd funders. But, as a wise man once said, mo' money equals mo' problems. With the overwhelming amount of press attention and the heightened level of fan anticipation, it would be easy for Volition to end up a disappointment or perhaps inversely overrated. As someone with no expectations, in fact not even becoming familiar with the band until the campaign was launched, I just went in with the standard hope to come out with a positive experience.

That sound you hear? That's the hyperbole train a'comin'.

I've never quite been able to understand the "math metal" subgenre. All those unique time signatures and staccato patterns are great, but in the case of, say, The Dillinger Escape Plan, whose fans should be prepared for some possible blasphemy in a moment, they never seemed to add up to a cohesive whole. It essentially became a whole lot of white noise. White noise, mind you, that I'm sure would make for an intense and thrilling live experience, a supposition seemingly confirmed by the amount of blood, sweat, and tears the band has actually been recorded shedding during shows, but noise that also becomes frustrating on a record in my opinion. Protest the Hero's guitar players, Luke Hoskin and Tim Millar, conjure up memories of attempts at getting into math metal, but carry them through to the conclusion that was always the hope. Their dexterous fingers seem to leave no fret untouched, yet they never lose track of important building blocks like structure and technique. It would require a hell of a rhythm section to keep up with them, and luckily bass player Arif Mirabdolbaghi (I not only checked the spelling before typing that, but during the typing of it as well) and percussion legend Chris Adler of Lamb of God prove more than capable of providing the low end on this adventure. The MVP of this whole affair though is by far vocalist Rody Walker. Research has determined that in the past, Walker's vocal style has tended towards screams and growls, and the switch to clean vocals is a fairly new endeavor. Walker gives both camps what they want on this release though, and his fast paced switches from guttural screams to higher pitched clean melodies are never unconvincing. Either group stands to be very pleased. His lyrics occasionally leave something to be desired, as much as I'm behind the stance in theory I can't say his advocacy for pit bulls on "A Life Embossed" will be convincing anybody, but the delivery sells even the subpar lines.

The oddball artwork and promotional stills might put off some metal fans, probably the same people that appreciate Nolan's Batman films because they're "dark and real like Batman should be", but make no mistake, this is one of the best albums of the year, and one you absolutely cannot miss.