I'm not a big fan of Metalcore stuff, (The Devil Wears Prada, Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine), I found most of it to just be really annoying. There's a few exceptions, however. The first Metalcore band I even remotely liked was All That Remains. A little later, I learned about The Human Abstract, and I was surprised to find out that they were actually really good. Especially their first true album, Nocturne. Midheaven, the 2nd album, is so-so, but it sounds a little too mainstream for my tastes. As for Protest the Hero, I wasn't a big fan at first. They were ok, not as good as The Birthday Massacre or anything, but it was a blessing compared to some bands like Atreyu. *shivers* Their first album though, Kezia, really started to grow on me. I started listening to it more and more and now it's probably one of my favorite albums of all time. It's different from a lot of anything "-core" I had heard before. They have almost no screaming/growling, (unlike Between the Buried and Me and All That Remains, where they do almost nothing but scream/growl), and still have the bad ass solo's and guitar riffs. And the most shocking part, also unlike most Metalcore stuff, is THEIR LEAD SINGER DOESN'T SUCK! (I know, shocking, isn't it.) That's what killed most of it for me before. I couldn't stand the singers' voice. But in Protest the Hero, he's really good. And he can make his voice so high pitched that in one of the songs I thought he was a chick! Kezia is truly an amazing album that everyone needs to check out.
