Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

There always seems to be debate on the links between Metal and the art of Progressive Rock. There are many bands that have perfected the lofty ideal that criss-crosses two outwardly disparate genres, the blurring and adding to of the ability to tell a story over the course of an album to the hard edge, the absolute limit of Metal technical adeptness.

Iron Maiden more than fulfilled the tight measure allowed as has in recent times Stone Sour with their previous two albums, Seattle’s Queensryche certainly took the splicing of genres to its lofty limit in the seminal Operation Mindcrime. The target is high and only the very best make it and in Volition, the fourth album by Protest The Hero, just about make it through the wire to join this idealistic select group.

Volition takes the desire for change in a new direction for the Canadian Prog/Metal band, the days of perhaps considered an afterthought, not just of the genre but in terms of groups from Canada that have made their name in a big way in the U.K. Whether this is down purely to the remaining members of the band after the departure of the skilled skinsman knuckling down and being more forceful or the fact that the legendary Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler joining bass player Arif Mirabdolbaghi in giving the band the extra punch that was needed is up for yet another debate; whatever the reason, the result is one that lands blow after blow in a pounding burst of energy that feels as energetic as it is uncompromising.

Chris Adler seems to add something to the overall feel of the album also, the precision of multiple options in which Rody Walker, Tim Millar and Luke Hoskins revel on tracks such as Clarity, Tilting Against Windmills, the superb Plato’s Tripartite and Animal Bones. The desire for change may well have been set down long before Chris Adler took up the drum duty for Protest The Hero but it cannot help but be noticed just how good the change, even in the slightest variation, can add another dimension to a band that can now move forward.

Ian D. Hall