Fortress
by Protest the Hero
  • Record Label: Vagrant
  • Release Date: Jan 29, 2008
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 143 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 110 out of 143
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 143
  3. Negative: 26 out of 143

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  1. Iggyl
    Mar 31, 2008
    3
    90? Oh man...I hope more critics review this album, because this album doesn't deserve this high rating at all. The band is really good with instruments, but this album is just a mess. It sounds like all the other metalcore bands out there.
  2. MeYou
    Apr 1, 2008
    2
    Hey, it's average score is actually 85. Oh, and this album sucks. . . really bad.
  3. TakisL.
    Feb 18, 2008
    1
    Nonsense album,nonsense band,nonsense kind of music.. It's not metal, it's not hardcore, it's not punk.. Totally disgusting!
  4. MariaG
    Apr 13, 2008
    1
    Bad crap...what a hell is with this rating.
  5. DShaw
    Apr 3, 2008
    2
    It's pretty bad, I'm getting tired of this stuff, young guys ripping off old classics.
  6. GregF.
    May 10, 2008
    3
    Is this the unused sessions from "Kezia"? How is it that it takes 3 years to record the same thing again? "Palms Read" contains a heavily engineered and overly produced 5-second slap-bass slop fest, and there is more half-hearted and Pro-Tools-infected screaming, but Protest needs to stop acting like they are metal Gods. Maybe if they played metal, and maybe if they could release a Is this the unused sessions from "Kezia"? How is it that it takes 3 years to record the same thing again? "Palms Read" contains a heavily engineered and overly produced 5-second slap-bass slop fest, and there is more half-hearted and Pro-Tools-infected screaming, but Protest needs to stop acting like they are metal Gods. Maybe if they played metal, and maybe if they could release a different album in less than three years, but until they give song titles more effort than "Bloodmeat," they are nothing special in my book, that is, unless you think fast = amazing. In that case, go kill yourself listening to this album in the car.… Expand
  7. NellyT.
    Apr 1, 2008
    1
    Septic stuff.
  8. FelipeP.
    Feb 29, 2008
    0
    the voice is horrible, and it's emo...
  9. RaelT
    Mar 17, 2008
    3
    It is simply, pure crap... This 90 average makes me sick... It is the worse rating of an album on Metacritic I can remember, and I read this website since its start
  10. diediediehard
    Feb 15, 2008
    1
    I listened to this album after a friend said I may like it. My initial opinion was that the guitars sounded terrible, too much treble and over - produced. This led me to believe that this style of music has been milked many times before, so I deleted the file, in my opinion there are far better bands than this within the same genre - dillnger escape plan to name one.
  11. AleS.
    Mar 11, 2008
    2
    Not Impressive.
  12. LiamS.
    Mar 17, 2008
    3
    these guys fall somewhere towards the bottom of the trendy emo/metalcore pile. i can't hear anything original in what they're doing.
  13. Devin
    Mar 3, 2008
    2
    Utterly intolerable, over-the-top opera metal that should be banished to the 80s where it belongs. An ability to play one's guitar or drums very quickly does not an artistic album make, and this kind of hollow theatrical nonsense is about as far as one can get.
  14. MattA.
    Apr 30, 2008
    1
    Thank God for the cokemachineglow review to even out the score from the metal dicksucking reviews from everyone else. Admittedly, metal has never been my cup of tea, but the good reviews prompted me to check it out, and this album simply reaffirmed my distaste for the genre. Only listen to if you like to play Warcraft on Friday nights and cut yourself.
  15. JustinS.
    May 4, 2008
    1
    For god's sake, look at the reviewers who rated this album. No credibility Terrible record.
  16. SoupS.
    Mar 27, 2008
    1
    This album is terrible. This band is an embarrassment to what metal is really about. It's just standard, boring, haircore. The same thing that's been sucking the soul out of metal for the past five or six years or so. Where are the reviews from real magazines, anyway?

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best Album of 2008
28
#28 Most Discussed Album of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. Sputnikmusic
    90
    It's a scarily mature album for a bunch of 21 year olds to have recorded, and the pairing of its ambitious lyrical concepts and motivated songwriting is something to be admired.
    Read full review
  2. AllMusic
    80
    Protest the Hero is having fun with their creativity here, and Fortress is a better album for it.
    Read full review
  3. NOW Magazine
    80
    Fortress stands out as gratifyingly heavy and heady.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »