Albums

Protest The Hero - Kezia

Liam McGrady 08/08/2006

Rating: 1/5

This might well seem extremely lazy, but I just have to quote directly from the press release accompanying this album from Protest The Hero,

“Almost two years in the making, 'Kezia' is a situational requiem (gosh!), similar to a concept album in that it tells a story (pretty much a concept album then?). It is an elegy of a young woman's (Kezia) execution, chronicled from the perspective of three characters. Each character is designated a section containing three songs, with a single retrospective finale concluding the album (ooh, ambitious). The three characters represent an aspect of the band members themselves, creating a deeply personal album.”

So I thought I might as well go with it, try and get into the story, sorry “situational requiem”, spend a good hour or so learning why this young woman came to be executed. And where better to start than having a good read of the lyrics? Right, okay, here's the first line of opening track 'No Stars Over Bethlehem' (ooh, biblical):

“I'll burn all the lives of this angel illuminati when St. Michael sized means find an end to justify/A belief to fortify this stained glass disgrace too beautiful to change or perhaps too scared the truth behind our lies will be erased.”

And then as you can imagine, I thought balls to that.

The drummer is a slave to the double kick pedal trick. The vocalist wails, and wails… and wails. The guitarists either do that histrionic “tapping” thing, which sounds like someone dialling a telephone number really fast, or they pound out detuned riffs; really fast. That's it.

Another slating on some band forum for me? Ah why not. Gives these fans something to do in their breaks from the Warhammer board.

'Kezia' is out now on Vagrant Records

Protest The Hero Website

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