Consider Protest the Hero's Fortress Mushroom-Cloud Rock

On their new album, [Fortress], Canadian math-metallers [Protest The Hero](http://www.protestthehero.com/) address a topic nothing less than the re-feminization of human consciousness and the global shift in archetypal goddess energy. If that sounds a bit dense, rest assured that the band brings plenty of sassy sophomoric humor and self-deprecation to the table.

PTH’s sound draws on several familiar musical hallmarks—tech-metal, classic prog rock, the operatic vocals and squealing guitars, speedy punk riffs, etc—but sometimes it sounds as if the band is going over the top on purpose. It’s not like you can call the music ironic or like the band is making fun of metal. They’re just having fun with it while somehow managing to steer clear of the clichés they veer dangerously close to before slamming down some of the most refreshing and kick-ass riff work being made right now. It’s a hell of a balancing act between high- and low-brow. Apparently, the loads of hallucinogens only help.

You can literally consider [Fortress] mushroom-cloud rock. If Tommy Chong and Terence McKenna ever had an Iranian-born lovechild, PTH lyricist/bass player Arif Mirabdolbaghi would certainly be it. “I’ve had a few, uh... harrowing tours of the bright lights of mushroom consciousness,” says Mirabdolbaghi between sheepish stoner giggles, “and I’ve always had a very harmonious relationship with mushrooms and psilocybin and the psychedelic experience. It’s certainly a ripe time to explore some of those ideas. You’ll meet someone who had their heyday in the ‘60s, and they’ll say ‘oh yeah, I took LSD once and all the walls began to melt and saw all these colors.’ They’ll describe in very picturesque language the things that they saw, yet there doesn’t appear to be any form of reflection on why this happened? Your consciousness went there, yet you have no self-reflection about it.”

Mirabdolbaghi, a “lapsed Muslim” of Iranian descent, says that his parents support his tripping, and that he relates his own experiences to a centuries-old Persian/Iranian mystic tradition. “The album,” he continues, “to sum it up, is a discussion on the history of mushrooms, following it from its Siberian past to its celestial future.”

He also explains that he uses femininity as a metaphor for a move away from the rigid codes of scientific thought into realms where science and mysticism converge. But the band knows how to lighten the mood. Intentionally kitschy, PTH juxtaposes its cerebral side with Mongolian/Celtic battle imagery that verges on parody. “I mean, Genghis Khan burning people in vats of oil and breaking his enemies’ backs and stringing them up on hooks,” Mirabdolbahi explains, “that’s all pretty metal.”

Protest the Hero opens for Silverstein tonight, along with The Devil Wears Prada and A Day to Remember at [Nokia Theatre Times Sq.]