Protest the Hero, Palimpsest, 7/21/20 (JF)

In the lead for album of the year, about to rate this a 9.6 in a couple weeks, and my closest score was an 8.0 leading up to Protest.

Protest is fucking back. My one and only Protest epic album connection was Kezia. “A monument of dicks and ribs, and the gender crown we wore, where underneath a plaque will read…no woman is a whore.” Epic song and lyrics with a flair for the dramatic. That was 2005 and PTH came outta nowhere with their punk metal + progressive lyricism. It didn’t hurt that recently in their band photo for Palimpsest, someone was wearing a Propagandhi shirt! Got my attention…

PTH takes some getting used to. First, with the singer, I had to get over the dramatic My Chemical Romance-y thing and realize, this guy fucking shreds as a lead. Apparently, he almost lost his voice recently and went through some tough times. But…he’s definitely back, and the band is way better than the Kezia days. The first 6 songs secure this album as an album of the year contender, and I highly doubt it’ll be topped. As in common with Kezia, the memorable parts are so distinct. It is great to have such an incredible vocalist driving the memorable parts. I have both loved and hated this band at times, and luckily Palimpsest is part of the former, and this may be the best PTH work yet. So pumped they are back! The Migrant Mother, The Canary, From the Sky, All Hands, The Fireside, the transition from Soliloquy to Reverie, and Rivet are all exemplary. To have 6-7 epic, memorable songs on one album makes this album of the year deserving. 

Can’t wait to see if Haken is up to the task to compete!