Protest the Hero

After going out on a prog-metal limb with 2008's Fortress, Whitby, ON's spastic metal heroes Protest the Hero re-grounded themselves with 2011's Scurrilous. Two years and a 300,000-dollar crowd-funding campaign later, the band appear to have found a happy medium, creating their most focused effort yet. Anchoring the proceedings is Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler, who fills-in as beat-keeper, after Moe Carlson left to return to school. Despite the line-up change, Volition finds the group sounding more confident than ever. While always technically adept musicians, there was, at times, a sense of showmanship in the way they would start and stop on a dime, switching tempos to make way for another noodly guitar riff. Their schizophrenia remains, but there's a newfound willingness to give sections room to breathe. As a result, the breakdowns rumble harder, while their trademark frantic pace has found new velocity and precision. As with their last album, vocalist Rody Walker tackles topics closer to home than the fantastical or political concepts of the past. The result is Protest the Hero's best effort to date, one where (relative) restraint yields a far more powerful product.