Kingcrimsonprog Scurrilous is the third full-length studio album by the Canadian band Protest The Hero, it was produced by Julius Butty and released in 2011.

Protest The Hero’s incredible artistic strength lies in three main fields: 1. The incredibly precise, technical and virtuosic playing of complex material that’s both impressively written and bafflingly structured, without ever feeling gimmicky. 2. Really unique and characterful lyrics that actually have something to say, but manage to stay entertaining with a colurful mixture of insight and clever phrasing. 3. Larger-than-life “moments” that elevate songs beyond the sum of their parts and cause you to really smile.

Scurrilous delivers on all three fronts and not only contains the trademark style-in-the-mixture-of-styles style that you would expect from the band, but manages to elevate and refine the band’s songwriting skills as well, leaving a satisfying and entertaining album on a gut level and one that you can listen to time and again to study the jarring tempo changes and all the neat little touches its so jam packed with.

Now; Protest The Hero are one of the only bands going who can convincingly go from sounding like Dream Theater to Carcass to Fallout Boy in the space of a single verse without sounding contrived or cheesy. Sometimes its almost like listening to what Coheed And Cambria would sound like if they had a sudden desire to get closer to the spirit of both Sikth and Dillenger Escape Plan, and yet also early In Flames, without loosing any of their summery catchiness or ear for good melodies.

Despite the band’s signature sound being a mixture of numerous Rock and Metal subgenres blended together at incredible speeds; on this album they reign it in a bit (well, by their standards) and manage to really nail down and solidify the elements which make them such a great and exciting band. This more solid approach is melded with a new, more honest and personal lyrical approach to great success. Songs on the subject of cancer, suicide, the music industry, life on tour and the aftermath of making amateur sex tapes are dealt with using clever and inventive language, a brilliant fusion of musical expression and the lyrical message, and some damn memorable hooks.

By and large Scurrilous is neither as poppy as the more memorable moments on Kezia, or as furious and metallic as the heaviest moments on Fortress, but it seems to have absolutely perfected the band’s middle-ground. The band concentrated on songwriting, creating some of their most memorable and sing-along tracks to date.

Highlights include the furiously catchy ‘Sex Tapes,’ the diverse ‘C’est La Vie’ and the venomous ‘Dunsel.’

Overall; The band have always excelled at creating “moments” and this album is jam packed with them. When “the trains were fifteen minutes late” bit, the “I don’t mean this in a hateful way, but when the people you love start walking away” bit, the ‘I hope she knows how much I respect her’ bit or the “Here’s looking at you, kid, it was going to leak eventually” bit kick in, they just captivate you, stick in your head for days and beg for repeat listens. If you like the band, you need to pick up this album. If you are new to the band pick up both this and their astounding debut Kezia at the same time, and just listen to them over and over again. Its really unlikely that you’ll be disappointed.

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.