I just love it when a piece of music just totally grabs your attention in way that makes you ignore the other 15,3 GB of music and podcasts on you iPod. If memory serves correctly Protest the Hero‘s first album was on a Best albums of the year-entry by Mike Portnoy. And I loved that too. Scurrilous is just a party for your ears, if you like progressive music, obviously. The German wikipedia page says mathcore but I don’t see them that extreme, let’s say technical prog metal but with very catchy melodies and songs. The songs on Scurrilous don’t sound like ABABCDAEFGGZZABCDCA, like let’s-throw-theses-parts-together – to me they sound like songs and interestingly the vocals play a big role in this. No burping and none of this high pitch screaming which you both can’t understand, enunciation it seems was part of the idea. But make no mistake, the voice is still awesomely powerful.
All in all, Scurrilous sounds like they are having fun. To my ears there is also some irony here and there, in the music as well as in the lyrics which is appreciated.
Check it out!