Protomen: Should you hear them?

Here's an unfinished post written in my enthusiasm to hearing the recently released Protomen Album. I wrote this.. in August
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I've been on a high from Protomen's most recent release: Father of Death. It's spectacular and polished while simultaneously being raw and fresh. In my zeal I initially felt like EVERYONE should hear this, everyone will love it, it is amazing! But that isn't the case. There are many people who will enjoy it, but you need to know what it is first, and then maybe you'll take the next step to hearing them.

First, what is Protomen? They're a group of musicians, most from MTSU. There's been some changes in the actual band membership since it started, but the band members maintain a level of privacy/anonymity akin to Daft Punk, using code names and staying in character even in interviews. The band's first album tells a story initially written from the plot line of the video game "Megaman" and this has given it status as a geek/gamer cult band. I think this is unfortunately narrow-minded. All this information is available on wikipedia.

They fit into a culture of creative, counter-pop. An example of this is their contribution to the Whiskerino conference of 2007 "Beards going nowhere".

	The Protomen - Beards Going Nowhere
	Found at skreemr.com

The conference itself was in celebration of the revival of facial hair pride. It is that same sort of cross between the ridiculous and the passionate that characterizes the rest of Protomen's work. They passionately sing the roles of Dr. Light who creates robot sons (Protoman and Megaman) who do battle against the oppressive Dr. Wily and his evil robot army who've taken over the world.

The "If's" below are "or if", not "and if" so when any one is true then the whole is true.

You will enjoy Protomen if you ever listened to Meatloaf. That isn't to say that they are just like him. Honestly, I haven't listened to much (any?) Meatloaf, but I have it from others that they are similar in the "Rock Opera" genre.

You will enjoy Protomen if you like the idea of telling a story through an album. Each of their albums tells a tale, song follows song to carry the story to the next pivotal point. The albums are whole units that are greater than the parts, and if you just hear individual songs before the entire story, you won't enjoy (or understand) it as much.

You will enjoy Protomen if you savored the exuberance of hair rock. Europe, Queen, etc... the synthesized (as in instrument) era of basic beats, wild guitars and the "epic" vocal talent. Personally, I'm more or less unfamiliar with that genre, but what I do hear, I enjoy.

You will enjoy Protomen if you like musicals. Especially the newest album. There is a distinct feel of it being something that MUST be performed. The echoing choruses, the lead voices, all ....