UMUR "A Calculated Use of Sound" is an EP released by American hardcore/metalcore act Protest the Hero. The EP was released in 2003 through Underground Operations. "A Calculated Use of Sound" was re-issued in 2004 with the bonus track "Soft Targets Dig Softer Graves".

The music is hardcore/metalcore. The pace is generally very high and the music is very energetic as a result of that. There is much focus on the vocals from singer Rody Walker who has...how should I put this?...a very distinct voice. Somewhat comparable to emo rock/metal vocalists but a bit more aggressive. It´s definitely an aquired taste if you´ll be able to enjoy Rody Walker´s high pitched and nasale vocal style. There are lots of harmony vocals on the EP too and most members actually contribute with vocals on the songs.

The band is well playing and the sloppy and untight playing that they treated us with on their debut EP "Search for the Truth (2002)" is fortunately a thing of the past. The band has matured greatly since that EP. Rody Walker has also learned to control his voice better on "A Calculated Use of Sound" than was the case on the messy predecessor.

The sound production is decent and suits the music well.

Protest the Hero have really improved on "A Calculated Use of Sound" compared to "Search for the Truth" and I´m starting to hear promises in the music. Overall I still have a slight issue with the vocal style though and the music isn´t the most exciting thing either. Therefore I´d say a 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating isn´t all wrong. I really like the energy in the music and that saves much.

UMUR "Search for the Truth" is the debut release by Canadian metalcore/hardcore act Protest The Hero. It´s a 7-inch vinyl record and was the first release on the Underground Operations label. The band had shortly before the release changed their name from Happy Go Lucky to Protest The Hero.

There are two tracks on the single and it features a playing time of 10:06 minutes so you don´t get much quantity for your money. The music is melodic hardcore punk. Very simple and not very original. Frontman Rody Walker has got one of the most distinct "Love him or hate him" sounding voices that I´ve heard in a while. High pitched and nasale. He seems like he has some trouble controlling his voice on this release and he certainly doesn´t make it easy to digest his vocal style.

The musicianship is not very strong and I get the feeling that these guys play sloppy on purpose. Sometimes that approach can be used to great effect but in this case it just sounds like the band can´t play or haven´t rehearsed enough. Drummer Moe Carlson is the worst sinner here. He sounds like he can´t remember the breaks in the songs. It all sounds very amaturish and very untight.

The production is below standard. Muddy and without punch.

All of the above amounts to a 1 star (20%) rating. I´m not even sure the fans of the band will enjoy this one, but of course I might be wrong. I don´t enjoy giving out low ratings, but in this case it´s warranted.

Conor Fynes 'Scurrilous' - Protest The Hero (5/10)

In the past, I have often used this band as an example of the flash-over-substance mentality that quite a bit of progressive metal has. Admittedly, I briefly liked what the band had to offer when I was first introduced to them, but it was not too long before I realized that they had a 'twinkie' mentality to their music; being that it looked it on the outside, but as soon as I dug a little deeper, it was clear that there wasn't all too much to hold my interest. I would never deny that the band are very skilled musicians, and with their third offering 'Scurrilous', they are still dragged down by some issues that have been stinging since their inception.

'Scurrilous' essentially picks up where the band's second album 'Fortress' left off and offers some more of the same, with few developments to speak of. For the most part, this is an improvement over Protest's generally sporadic and irritating sophomore, and while there are none of the same standout tracks that 'Fortress' was only partially redeemed by, 'Scurrilous' is a much more consistent record, and somewhat emphasizes what I liked about them beforehand. In terms of what I like about Protest The Hero, the list begins and ends with the guitars. Tim Miller and Luke Hoskin are phenomenal musicians, and 'Scurrilous' is a virtually unrelenting showcase of their skills, delivering riff upon impressive riff of distinct arpeggios and progginess aplenty. While I may not be nearly as enthusiastic about any other quality of the band, the guitars are essential enough to the sound of 'Scurrilous' that it becomes something of a decent listen, and could have even been a brilliant one, were it not for some painfully unpleasant aspects in their sound.

The lesser of the two main concerns I have with the sound of Protest The Hero is the songwriting. While there are plenty of awesome riffs and technically sound moments for listeners to be dazzled by, the way things are structured doesn't give any sense of drama or tension, or even a slight sense of build up. While the unrelenting technicality and speed of the album is not necessarily a bad thing in of itself, the is little dynamic here, and even within the context of a song itself, the ideas rarely compliment each other. The songwriting always feels rhapsodic and without direction. The songwriting is far from the worst aspect of Protest The Hero's sound however.

The thing that really kills Protest The Hero for me are the vocals of Rody Walker, whose adolescent howl has put me off virtually from square one. Although gifted with an admittedly impressive vocal range, the sound of his voice doesn't pass me as being much more than an angry whine, and his voice has an irritating sense of vibrato to it that I can only interpret as the vocal equivalent of television static. Walker's voice exemplifies why I cannot like this band; he warbles every note to the point of overindulgence, and when it comes to the actual sound of his voice, it is fairly shallow, despite his obvious ability to go wherever he wants with his delivery. Not to mention that the vocals are paired with some equally irritating lyrics; while Protest The Hero's lyrics here are somewhat better than they were with 'Fortress' and are at times even witty, it is ironic that the times when Rody enunciates the words most clearly are the times when he decides that swearing is the only way to express his youthful angst. Of course, like anything, so-called 'bad language' can be used appropriately and powerfully, but here, it almost feels like they are trying to force the words in, in order to get some sort of badass credibility they would otherwise be lacking. The result is fairly laughable.

As one can likely tell within one paragraph of this review, I do not like Protest The Hero. While they are all skilled and flashy, the technical wankery does not tend to work in their favour when they don't have much else to back it up with. Luckily however, 'Scurrilous' earns points for me, even if only because it is a great step up from 'Fortress'. There is also some brilliant guitar work here, and I could easily see 'Scurrilous' being a surefire winner for me if it were kept a purely instrumental album. As it stands though, the good elements here are only somewhat worth bearing with the negative.

Andyman1125 Great ideas that don't go very far.

Protest the Hero a relatively new mathcore/progressive metal band from Canada. They smashed onto the scene with their killer debut Kezia, which reached far bounds in their genre's sonic spectrum. The band comes back in 2008 with Fortress, an overall good album but a bit lacking. The band has very good ideas with their music but they fail to develop them very far. Overall, the band delivers a vicious punch of intense and technical metal, but they fall short of creating anything truly special.

Bloodmeat smashes open the album with a killer little riff that quickly breaks down into another riff that quickly breaks down into another riff that then switches to another riff... whew! With this song we see early on how the band has plenty of absolutely fantastic ideas, but they don't develop them into any cohesive track but just cram as much stuff into a 3 minute track as possible. Overall, the song is very strong and doesn't fall short of intensity, but has way too much going on to be considered an overall excellent song.

The Dissentience is a little better than the last track, with more concise ideas being further developed than just a rough cut guitar riff. Still, however, the song shows signs of way too much (or not enough) thought put into such a short time span. With some of the ideas present in the track, a lengthy metal epic could have been made. The track is strong, but lacks a unique spark that would make it a spectacular track.

Bone Marrow is one of the best tracks on the album, making an absolutely epic duology (with the next track). It contains some of the more creative ideas, albeit there are way too many of them shoved into the song. A little bit of funk is heard, with some fantastic mathcore riffs synchronizations heard. The whole experience of Bone Marrow could be seen as an almost surreal one, with bass boosts put in at the perfect spot and keyboard textures being sprinkled in here and there. The melodic transition at the end of the track marks the finishing of "part 1" of the album and the advent of part 2. The whole little section is beautiful, either adding or subtracting to the overall feel of the track.

Sequia Throne is my absolute favorite track on the album. Absolutely brilliant riffs, great soloing and harmonizations between the two guitars, and some absolutely fantastic bass and drums synchronizations. Overall, the track displays what Protest the Hero can do: rape your ears for all they're worth. The band dishes out an insane amount of mathcore madness, with hectic time signature changes, insanely fast soloing and synchronized breakdowns. Overall, this is easily the strongest track on the album, although I would love it if the ideas in the song were developed further.

Palms Read marks the slow decline of my interest in the album. After the relatively incredible tracks, little more can be done for the album. Of course, this song also contains some purely genius ideas, but still they are so all over the place that it makes it hard to consider this a serious song but more like an album teaser. Overall, the song is really good, but is nowhere the best of the album.

Limb from Limb is alright, but nothing special. Some really standard metalcore riffing and crazy instrumental prowess make this rather unspecial compared to the rest of the metalcore genre. The song can get a little "boring," with way too much craziness making it a combination of boring and harsh.

Spoils is a really nice, but a little odd, "fusion" song of power metal and alternative metal. Some great ideas again are a little hectic and underused in an insane song. The song, like so many of the songs before, contain way too many ideas shoved into a short time span. The really only exceptional part of the song is the beautiful transitional piano piece at the end of the song.

Wretch is so much like the other song. Some great riffs and ideas shoved into a short time span and made way too crazy. Some really awkward modulations to major also detract from this song a lot. Sometimes, there is a point where a musician needs to step and ask himself what is he putting into a song and why. It's pretty obvious they did not do this as they shoved riff after riff into an obese track. Overall, the song has some great ideas, but the song overall is way too hectic.

Goddess Bound is yet another way too overstuffed song. This time, throw in some odd and sometimes way too generic lyrics and mix in an overused concept and you get the Goddess Bound/Goddess Gagged duology. The song is good, but like essentially every other track on the album, has way too many great ideas shoved into it.

Goddess Gagged is an appropriate ender to the album. Using much more proggy riffs than just metalcore, and seem to have a much more structured song built this time. Finally, only a select few ideas were used, and tastefully. The song has some really great ideas too, some of the better ones of the album. Overall, the track is actually a rather strong ender, albeit it does end rather suddenly. It has some strong ideas that are a little more structured, although it still seems a little all over the place at times.

ALBUM OVERALL: From the tone of the review, one may assume that I hate this album, which is not true. First time through, I was blown away. But, I slowly began to realize that the band had just pumped the album full of great ideas meant to explode your mind while truly they were feeble and underdeveloped ideas. The instrumentation is spectacular, hammering in another great metalcore performance, but the music preformed is nothing special. As I said time and time again, the ideas used on this album are stunted and underdeveloped. Overall, the album has fantastic ideas, but they provide for nothing more than a tiring and exhausted ride. 3 stars.

topofsm Looking for an energetic pump up? Want to infuse your day with some soaring choruses? Interesting in a bit of technical wizardry? Fortress is indeed a good pick for that, but ultimately by the end of it will leave the listener tired of the constantly rapid paces and the overload of melodies.

Fortress is best described as a post-hardcore album, but it's hardly a generic one. It easily borrows a lot from prog, tech, metalcore, and power metal to form one of the more unique sounds in the 'alternative' genres. The musicianship is indeed impressive throughout the whole album. The guitar shreds all over the place, the drums are fast paced, and the vocals are diverse and have an incredible range. However, one of the common complaints about the album is the constant fast paced techniques and blistering melodies wears the listener out with overuse.

The works on the album are probably better on a song by song basis anyways. The opener, "Bloodmeat" contains some killer energetic riffage and is a good example for what the rest of the album sounds like. "Sequoia Throne" opens with a bang and a flurry of tapped notes, and the energy scarcely lets up, revealing probably the best song on the album. The next two songs are great as well, in fact "Sequoia Throne" through "Spoils" are the main course of the album and musically the highlight. "Palms Read" contains an epic soaring guitar intro and rushing verses. "Limb From Limb" contains some very metal lyrics, and features interesting rhythmic experimentation, and also includes a strangely well fitting keyboard solo.

All in all a good listen, the songs are top notch, though could use some compositional editing. Tech fans should find it interesting though, as their metallic approach to post-hardcore is intriguing. Give it time, and Protest the Hero will become not only the figureheads in their genre today, but well respected by many fans across scenes.