Protest The Hero Take To The Streets

Whitby, Ont. metallic punk band Protest The Hero will emerge from their recording fortress to tour in support of the follow-up to Kezia.

The 10-song Fortress, the band's second LP for Underground Operations in Canada and Vagrant for the rest of the world, will be released on Jan. 29. The album borrows a page from classical music and is broken up into different movements.

"We don't want every song to be separate with no relation," explains singer Rody Walker. "This is an attempt to push the art form a little, to make it creative, and to make the songs work together. It's all about cohesion and amalgamation of songs."

But Fortress isn't as much of a concept album as Kezia, as Walker says the band had grown tired of fans asking them to analyze all the songs on the last disc.

"Fortress is not story-based at all. It's ideas that relate to one another through ancient tellings. It's history, present times and a prediction of the future without getting too cheesy, but it's still cheesy."

"Sequoia Throne" can be previewed on the band's MySpace page.

Fortress was originally scheduled to come out on Nov. 13, but was pushed back to give the group time to play more shows and battle Amazon warriors.

Protest The Hero have scheduled an extensive North American tour that begins on Wednesday and extends to the end of March. Here are the Canadian dates:

Dec. 19 Ottawa, ON @ Babylon w/These Silhouettes
Dec. 20 Guelph, ON @ Vinyl w/These Silhouettes
Dec. 21 St. Catharines, ON @ Level 3 w/These Silhouettes
Dec. 22 Chatham, ON @ Twisters w/These Silhouettes
Dec. 23 Barrie, ON @ The Foundation w/These Silhouettes
Jan. 28 Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Cultural Centre w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Jan. 30-31 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 1 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 2 Saskatoon, SK @ The Odeon w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 3 Regina, SK @ The Distrikt w/Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 4 Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 7 London, ON @ Cowboy's Ranch w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 8 Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 9 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 10 Quebec City, QC @ Imperial De Quebec w/Silverstein, IllScarlett and Devil Wears Prada

Here are the songs on Fortress:

"Bloodmeat"
"The Dissentience"
"Bone Marrow"
"Sequoia Throne"
"Palms Read"
"Limb From Limb"
"Spoils"
"Wretch"
"Goddess Bound"
"Goddess Gagged"