KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
You'd think after getting a good dose of Protest the Hero's flamboyant yet brazen music that they would be a bunch of woolly bogans with no necks. But no, they're just five average looking Joes from Ontario, Canada, who wear collared shirts, jeans and trainers and happen to like conjuring up a contorting and wretching firestorm of twisted metal.
On Fortress, the band's second album following 2006's Kezia, they combine the lightning fast proficency of a band like Dragonforce, the brutal technicality of Dillinger Escape Plan, with the slice and dice of death metal and hardcore.
And the vocals are just as much of a mix with flowery serenades, unhinged screams, guttural growls and rabid barking, as if your pet pitbull was having a chat with you about limbs, bone marrow and palm reading.
Along with albums by Mars Volta and Dillinger Escape Plan Fortress is one of the most inventive, yet accessible, albums to appear on the heavy music scene in recent months.
Yes, it is highfalutin at times - the album is broken up into three movements - but they insist it is not a concept album like Kezia. But when songs like Palms Read and the deliciously titled Bloodmeat pummel their way into life you can't help but feel the power.
Label: Vagrant/Shock
Verdict: Brutal and better second album from Canadian crazies
