PROTEST THE HERO – Within (Album Review)

It’s all about what’s on the inside.

In the same spirit as their fellow Canadian progressive rock and metal forerunners Rush and Voivod, Protest The Hero is a band that has little difficulty in standing out from the crowd. Originally cutting their teeth in the metalcore scene during its commercial heyday in the 2000s, they could have best been described as the band with enough technical chops to orbit The Dillinger Escape Plan, but also the melodic sensibilities and songwriting to appeal to the mainline scene typified by the likes of Killswitch Engage and All That Remains.

In the years since, their sound has gradually resolved from a highly frenetic hardcore-steeped assault bathed in mathcore high-jinks into a more elaborate and nuanced template of progressive metal with a healthy level of symphonic flourishes amid the flashy licks and soaring vocals, and their 6^th studio LP Within presents the most refined and impressive yet accessible expression of this new direction yet.

Though at present only two founding members form the core of Protest The Hero in both a studio and touring capacity, flanked by several session and touring musicians filling out the arrangement, the presentation has lost none of its cohesiveness. Lead vocalist Rody Walker thrives in the higher range of the post-hardcore spectrum, mostly opting for a cleaner-cut tenor with occasional harsher go-betweens, and rhythm guitarist Tim MacMillar lays down some heavy-hitting riffs amid the auditory chaos, but much of the signature detailing that underscores this outfit’s technical nature is handled by session hands.

Of the bunch, lead guitarist and former full-time member of the fold Luke Hoskin typifies the very concept of madcap technical noodling, all the while acting as a balanced foil to MacMillar, an eventuality that definitely points to his long history with this outfit stretching back to its beginnings. The rhythm section, comprised of longtime on-and-off session bassist Cam McLellan and recently acquired drummer Nathan Bulla, performs masterfully in keeping things locked in despite all the moving parts, and often rivals Hoskin in how many fancy fills they offer into the pot.

In a nutshell, what Within brings to the table is a raging cacophony of complex ideas that somehow manage to come out making sense on the other side and even lands in earworm territory here and there. The opening politically-charged fist to the gut “Mouthpiece” checks all of the boxes of a high-octane progressive romp, cycling through rhythmically mixed segments and rapid shifts in feel, yet nailing a brilliant chorus hook in the midst of it all.

The more driving anthem “Fishhook” lands a little closer to the fast-paced, mid-2000s mainline of melodic metalcore, albeit with more moving parts and frenzied guitar work. The meaty monster “Grandfather’s Axe” blends in more of a thrashing element to the riff work while still wandering all over the stylistic map, spearheaded by Walker’s vocal approach taking on more of a whimsical to almost comedic character. “The Orchard” doubles back to a more straight-up punk feel, though it gets hard to miss the frequent madcap lead breaks streaming out of Hoskin’s guitar. The concluding one-two punch of “Liberty Spike” and especially the massive closing epic “The Mariner” take the cake for the most technically charged and stylistically mixed up of the bunch, often feeling like what Dream Theater would sound like while attempting a punk album after an extended caffeine binge.

The jury is out as to whether Within marks Protest The Hero at their most stylistically potent and refined, but for those that enjoyed the insane technical gymnastics of 2008’s Fortress and the melodically accessible character of Volition and Palimpsest, it’s an album that manages to bridge the divide quite effectively.

The clever usage of dynamic contrast and shifting genre approaches within songs, let alone the subtle melancholy orchestral interludes “Above” and “Below” – that serve to divide this musical play into three distinct acts – finds an album that it’s clearly still grounded in the melodic and stylistic characters, but it’s definitely the sort of cerebral-based endeavor that can appeal to the wider progressive rock and metal world, and underscores a band that, despite shifting membership, is just as in the game now as they were two decades ago.

Release Date: July 17th, 2026
Record Label: Independent
Genre: Progressive Metal

Musicians:

• Rody Walker / Vocals
• Tim MacMillar / Rhythm Guitar
• Luke Hoskin / Lead Guitar
• Cam McLellan / Bass
• Nathan Bulla / Drums

Within Track-list:

1. Mouthpiece
2. Fishhook
3. I. Above
4. Grandfather’s Axe
5. The Orchard
6. II. Below
7. Liberty Spike
8. The Mariner

Order the album here.