The Protomen at Eastside Bowl, 4/27/2024
“When’s Act III coming out?”
That question dogged The Protomen for nearly 17 years — effectively since the final dying notes at a sold-out Mercy Lounge show celebrating the release of Act II: The Father of Death in 2009. That is, until last year, when the band announced they would release their first album of original music (and the latest expansion of their original story based on characters from the Mega Man video game franchise) since the Obama administration.
On Act III: This City Made Us, The Protomen return to what they do best: operatic synth rock that plumbs the depths of dystopian science fiction, 1980s arena rock and the dying art of the guitar solo. But was it worth the wait? And does Act III scratch the same itch for uninitiated rock opera lovers as it certainly will for devotees who have waited patiently to hear how the story continues?
Let’s recap the story in advance of the band’s massive album release party happening Thursday through Saturday. They’ll be performing their three albums in the chronological order of the story, with Act II the first night, Act I the second and Act III as the finale. Brilliant scientist Dr. Thomas Light has been exiled from the City, framed for the murder of his beloved Emily. He’d been driven to despair over his hand in creating a technology that eliminated jobs and gave rise to a technofascist rule that has a habit of disappearing dissenters via masked goons. (This story definitely doesn’t have any relevance in the Year of Our Lord 2026.)
Light funnels his regret into the creation of two successive metal sons to wage war against his former research partner, Albert Wily. One son, Protoman, is seemingly torn to shreds in front of a slack-jawed populace. The other, Megaman, fights his way through cybernetic hordes on a quest to avenge his brother, only to discover that things were not what they seem. He abandons his quest and the people he thought were worth saving, leaving the humans to fend for themselves.
Here’s the thing about The Protomen, though: You don’t actually need to know any of that to get swept up in their grand project. Act III doesn’t hold your hand through the lore (though physical copies do include a libretto in the liner notes). But neither does Tosca. It’s the emotional swings of the music and the band’s resolute commitment to bigger, more expansive sounds that makes Act III a successful continuation of The Protomen’s legacy.
Act III is, by all measures, an escalation. On Act II, the band cribbed from spaghetti Westerns and Ennio Morricone scores. For Act III, they literally hired Morricone’s longtime collaborators, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. On Act II, Gambler Kirkdouglas appeared as a featured vocalist. She carries nearly half of Act III, coming in like a valkyrie in a beehive, easily keeping up with Raul Panther III’s formidable lead vocals.
The Protomen’s Gambler Kirkdouglas at Eastside Bowl, 4/27/2024
Kirkdouglas’ expanded role is part of what makes The Protomen of 2026 exciting. At this point, the band’s lineup feels as locked-in as it’s ever been, crystallized in the crucible of a daunting schedule of tours and conventions. You can hear that unity in the dazzling Thin Lizzy-style guitar theatrics on “Calling Out.” The band has never sounded tighter than they are here.
Act III hits its apex with “Light’s Last Stand,” a Springsteenian triumph culminating in a wailing saxophone break from Tim Cappello (who is perhaps best known as the shirtless saxophonist from The Lost Boys, though he’s performed with many others including Tina Turner and Peter Gabriel). This song is in direct conversation with “Breaking Out,” another Boss riff from the last record, and it leans into hanging their specific mythos on familiar sounds. The band’s love of ’80s sounds and structures is obvious across their entire discography, but they steer away from feeling like pastiche retreads. Their sound is distinctly their own, with their influences amped into the stratosphere.
That’s the magic trick of The Protomen: seeing a guy in a scuffed-up motorcycle helmet sing like Freddie Mercury against a bed of soaring guitars and John Carpenter synths and being immediately captivated. Panther’s voice, improbably, has gotten only more dynamic over the years, and his shifting personas across the record — from Light to Megaman to Wily and back again — have distinct tones and textures. It’s technically dazzling in a way that you’d never expect from a band that could easily coast on its high concept and rabid fan base.
In an age when rock music is out of favor in the pop mainstream, The Protomen are giving it to you big, loud and covered in silver facepaint. Listening to Act III is like having pyrotechnics go off in your face. It’s as big a record as has ever been recorded by a local rock band — and maybe bigger than any rock band that’s come into fashion over the past 20 years.
In press materials, the band has said this story arc has concluded with Act III. But like all Protomen albums, it ends on a down-note cliffhanger, suggesting that there’s more story to tell and a final fight to be won. So with all that said: When’s Act IV coming out?
