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Review Tue Mar 27 2012
Review: Protest The Hero @ Bottom Lounge
Protest The Hero shows are a rare breed. Typically, a show's energy starts off strong and, if it's good, that energy--both the band's and the audience's--continues to build momentum throughout the set. If it's its bad that energy tends to trickle out of the venue and by mid-set it's clear that everyone is simply counting down to the final song. Protest The Hero's music, however, puts their shows into a narrow category. The overall upbeat, fast, and aggressive nature of this Canadian metal act's songs leads one to believe that the crowd would respond to them with nonstop movement--be it in the form of moshing, fist pumping or serious head banging.
Photo by Steve Stearns
The problem is that Protest The Hero's songs are also persistently complex. There's barely time to recover from each tempo change before the next one hits. It's nearly impossible to be concerned with rocking out when you're eye locked on guitarists Tim Millar's and Luke Hoskin's fancy finger work. The rhythmic synthesis of bassist Arif Mirabdolbaghi and drummer Moe Carlson is almost too impeccably tight to believe without visual confirmation. The problem with Protest The Hero is not that they are not fun to watch. It's that they are nearly impossible to take your eyes off of.
The start of Sunday night's show at the Bottom Lounge was no different. Both the crowd's and the band's energy was seemingly underwhelming. Unlike most shows though, instead of further dwindling, crowd's energy grew the longer Protest The Hero played. Predictably older tracks like "Turn Soonest to the Sea" off the band's first album Kezia and Fortress's centerpiece "Sequoia Throne" drew the biggest crowd reactions, but newer tunes like the seriously dynamic single off their latest album "Hair Trigger" also did well to get feet moving.
Photo by Steve Stearns
Everyone acts differently at a rock show. Some people dance. Some people sing along. Others just simply want to watch. I feared Protest The Hero's pure musicality would lead the majority of the crowd to do nothing but the later, which is fine, but it makes for an awkwardly stiff concert atmosphere. Luckily, by the band's final song audience members were swarming the stage, singer Rody Walker was doing his best to share the mic with anyone in sight ready to scream the lyrics to their best ability and a lack of energy was no where to be found.
