Protagonist

Protagonist: The ChronicleThe Chronicle (2009)
Paper and Plastick

Reviewer Rating: 2.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: InaGreendaseBrian
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on August 25th 2009Paper + Plastick could definitely help the melodic punk diversity of its roster with a few melodic hardcore additions, and one such act, Protagonist might be a good candidate to assist in mixing it up. Unfortunately, their perfectly average label debut, The Chronicle, doesn't quite stack up. This.

Paper + Plastick could definitely help the melodic punk diversity of its roster with a few melodic hardcore additions, and one such act, Protagonist might be a good candidate to assist in mixing it up. Unfortunately, their perfectly average label debut, The Chronicle, doesn't quite stack up.

This is assuredly melodic hardcore of the Strike Anywhere variety, done well enough, but without an extra ingredient to make it stick or invigorate. Mostly instrumental opener "Play Hard Play Fast Play Together" could benefit from being peppered with a few more lyrical inclusions instead of its bundle of riffs that come at the immediate outset. "Light the Fuse" is a more well-conceived blast of Exit English-esque melodic fury and utilizes their partially versatile vocals a little more successfully, although a lot of it feels like it's been done before in a pretty direct manner. There's a definite Bouncing Souls bassline thumping around "1095 Days" to give the album a sudden, slight genre reach-around. "From Florida to Philadelphia" does the same, except with a weird, poppy street punk vibe that doesn't quite gibe with the rest of the album.

If nothing else, The Chronicle sounds fantastic. The recording is punchy and the songs sound full-bodied and polished to the perfect level. I can't find credits anywhere, really, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was recorded at the Blasting Room.

Still, The Chronicle is missing an extra 'oomph' to take Protagonist's predecessors' sound into at least partially new or exciting territory. One could easily imagine Protagonist doing it on their next release, but this album doesn't quite chronicle it.

STREAM
Charge (The Chronicle)

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

OHYOUFANCYHUH (April 5, 2011)

H20, Kill Your Idols, Crime in Stereo, Sheer Terror?! Protagonist first record in 2003 was on Blackout! along with these other bands. By far not their first record nor the first time on a reputable label.

Alien (December 13, 2009)

Good review.

It does sound pretty good quality wise.
but I feel like something is missing when I listen to it. there's a lot of bands that play the same style, just better, I mean I'd rather any day just listen to No Trigger, Canyoneer.
and what's up with the street punk song?

onegirlarmy (November 21, 2009)

Gotta admit, as much as I dig this record, the hardcore song immediately into random street punk song caught me a bit off guard... haha

VictimOfADriveBy (November 20, 2009)

Maybe this album will grow on me, but this album is missing something. I'll probably see them live soon and maybe then I'll change my mind.

They sound like a mix of Comeback Kid and Strike Anywhere.

DrewXFishy (August 27, 2009)

this rekkid rules
dont you people get it
its a damn good rekkid
you can compare them to bands all day but the fact is they can stand their own ground yo!

shame on you, youre missing out

KevinH (August 27, 2009)

I would've given this a 6/10, but I actually like that Brian tempers his scores a bit and doesn't throw out 9s and 10s for every band with an orgcore sound.

friokir (August 26, 2009)

as much as I love SA, (altough I've not given this enough listens to be exactly sure) I think this record has more gears to it the instrumentation seems a bit more developed, so the SA comparison is maybe a bit too siplistic. man, if only SA returned to their Chorus of One sound - score is for this dream that'll never come true.

jlb (August 25, 2009)

ok ok ok srry.
the douche bag thing was harsh....
however their debut was on blackout!
just sayin, just sayin....

onegirlarmy (August 25, 2009)

While I disagree with the review, I also see it from the reviewer perspective. If you're given a job to review something and you just didn't really enjoy it, are you going to lie about it?

KidDangerCat (August 25, 2009)

Oh, and, score is for using the term "reach-around".

KidDangerCat (August 25, 2009)

I have to agree with the reviewer, this cd just really didn't do it for me.
The first song I'd heard by these guys was the title track, which got me reallllly stoked. But honestly, every other track on the album wasn't quite up to par.
I wanna like these guys, I really do, but I think this might be on my "Letdown Albums of 2009".

you_are_a_loser (August 25, 2009)

Yet another awesome release getting a 2.5/5 from Brian. Go figure.

onegirlarmy (August 25, 2009)

I think Brian was trying to get that this was their debut for a "known" label?

inagreendase (August 25, 2009)

I'd probably be less of a douche had I given this "debut" a positive score, no?

Blackjaw_ (August 25, 2009)

Yeah, jlb's right. I used to listen to them a few years ago, they played shows with No Harm Done and Fallen From The Sky and stuff and had a couple releases. You're not a douchebag though. :)

jlb (August 25, 2009)

fucking douche bag do your research....this isnt a debut.

and its a stellar record

Blackjaw_ (August 25, 2009)

It's alright, really good for its 'subgenre', but I don't/won't listen to it often.

onegirlarmy (August 25, 2009)

Disagree too, I think this record is very solid. Especially when comparing to their older material, this blows that out of the water. Good band, good record, one of my favorites of the year.

jo_punk_promoter (August 25, 2009)

well i gotta disagree with you, i think it's a pretty solid release and at least, you could have developed a little bit more your review...