Style: Rock opera, hard rock, progressive rock, synthwave (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Meat Loaf, Queen, Journey, Gunship, Dirt Poor Robins
Country: USA (Tennessee)
Release date: 9 January 2026

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How does one end a trilogy? If you look to cinema, the answer often is: badly. Sure, you get a Return of the King or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly once in a while, but there’s also Jurassic Park III, The Godfather Part III, The Matrix Revolutions, Spider-Man 3, Blade: Trinity, and Captain America: Civil War¹ to contend with. Sticking the landing is hard—The Protomen knew that going in. After all, Act II released all the way back in 2009. Over the years, the final act had become something of a myth in the music community as the band reached cult classic status. For gaps between official releases, The Protomen beat Karnivool and Tool; hell, they beat Guns N’ Roses. Sure, singles, some live releases, and cover albums reassured fans the band were still active, at least. But Act III remained elusive. Until now. 

Formed in 2003, The Protomen’s opus is their three-act concept trilogy loosely based on the Mega Man video game franchise. Taking many of the names and ideas from the series, The Protomen build their own story within that realm, focusing more on the relationship between the two rival doctors, Thomas Light and Albert Wily, at the heart of the franchise’s lore. From that foundation bubbles up a sturdy frame of rock opera and hard rock influences in conversation with sci-fi fanfiction, and bolstered with every eighties dystopian trope you can think of, from Blade Runner to Akira. After the intentionally noisy and more genrefluid debut, The Protomen entered a noirish relationship with musicals and rock opera on Act II. The finale in the trilogy² feels like a logical continuation of that evolution, fully committing to the hard rock and rock opera sound, adding even more synthwave, and jettisoning some of the more musical-coded ideas that came to the fore on Act II in favour of a more cinematic soundtrack approach. 

And what a sense of kino they conjure! Opening with Tangerine Dream-esque synth work (which colours many an intro, outro and interlude), “Hold Back the Night” throws open Act III with Gambler Kirkdouglas’ yearning operatic delivery determinedly intoning, ‘I know a hero will come!’ And come he does, in true rock opera fashion: lead vocalist Raul Panther III makes his entrance—the hero returned—seven minutes into the album to duet with Gambler and tell her that, ‘all of your heroes are gone.’ We’re so back. 

Act III keeps up the energy with banger after banger, sojourning across a range of rock territory: Raul doing his level best to channel the spirit of Freddie Mercury (“This City Made Us”, “Hold On (The Distance Between)”), tracks with retro-modern synthwave inflections (“Calling Out”), and a selection of instant rock opera hits that’d have made Meat Loaf apoplectic³ with envy (“Hold Back the Night”, “No Way Back”). Some slightly more unusual approaches are buried in the largely synthwave/rock opera aesthetic. “Buried in the Red” lays in a bluesy vein akin to early Deep Purple with galloping drumbeat, organ work and profligate soloing, while “The Dream” leans more on a musical aesthetic with orchestra and overlapping voices evoking the cocktail of doubt and fate that beset our hero. “No Way Back” may well be the crown jewel of the album (though there’s a few to choose from) with a charming sense of meta-commentary in its ‘if there’s a way out of this, somebody tell me how’ refrain, as if the pressure of all those years knowing The Protomen had their own dragon to slay is slopping out of the subconscious. But, more than that, Raul’s howling beseechment of ‘maybe we’ll get out of this… a-lii-iiiii-iiiiiii-iiiiive” launching into a cathartic guitar solo is an early lock for Most Epic Music Moment of the Year. 

Indeed, while Act III remains breathtakingly strong throughout, there is a penultimate wobble. “The Redline” into “A Show of Force” lays out a martial instrumental, centred around a fairly uncompelling guitar riff. Narratively speaking, it’s a clear evocation of a march to the final showdown, but it’s a somewhat cliched build-up—no doubt the liner notes that always come with The Protomen’s physical albums will fill in the story that accompanies the track. In that same trite vein is “Light’s Last Stand”, which feels like a Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler) medley, trotting out all the saccharine rock opera tropes—including an utterly incongruous saxophone solo—that The Protomen usually eschew. Perhaps it’s silly to critique a rock opera of all things for such knowing cheesiness, but much of the track nevertheless feels at odds with The Protomen’s general vibe, which is usually rooted in a more moody earnestness. 

Still, Act III sticks the landing in style. “The Good Doctor ⋅ Part 2” reprises the requisite Mexican standoff mise-en-scène that always accompanied Wily and Light’s showdowns: epic orchestral swells, a martial tattoo, and that piercingly lamentatory trumpet work. ‘Throw the switch, turn it off, let the world carry on!’ expostulates Raul in the crescendo before a withered shout of ‘just let it all go now!’ brings us into the final moments—the grandiose orchestral finish. Was Albert Wily defeated? Does Thomas Light survive? Is the city saved? No spoilers, but there won’t be a dry eye in the house. 

Sure to please superfans and the uninitiated in equal measure, Act III: This City Made Us completes their ambitious rock opera in incredible style, their most musically accomplished work yet, with glistening production and the maturity one would expect the band to have cultivated in these intervening years. The Protomen’s status as a cult act was already assured, but they went above and beyond on this sincere, explosive, and rollickingly fun finale. Not all trilogies end so assuredly, but sometimes they can light up the night. 

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Recommended tracks: No Way Back, Hold On (The Distance Between), Hold Back the Night, The Good Doctor ⋅ Part 2—although you should really listen to the full thing
You may also like: Moron Police, Toehider, Kyros
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Sound Machine Records

The Protomen is:
– Raul Panther III – vocals, multi-instruments
– Murphy Weller – bass synthesizer, bass guitar, percussions
– Commander B. Hawkins. – synthesizer, vocoder, percussions
– Sir Dr. Robert Bakker – guitar
– Shock Magnum – guitar
– Gambler Kirkdouglas – human choir, vocals
– Reanimator Lovejoy – drums
– K.I.L.R.O.Y. – fist pumps, hand claps, armorer, sledgehammer, maracas and jarana

1. In order: actually the Spinosaurus single-handedly makes it sick, never watched any of The Godfathers don’t @ me, all of The Matrix films are overrated, I don’t remember the third Spider-Man because nobody does, I’m pretty sure the third Blade sucked, and the third Captain America was better than the first one but that’s a low bar. ↩︎
2. There might well be an Act IV in future, I don’t know, just go with the conceit. ↩︎
3. Not that that was difficult to do, god rest his angry soul. ↩︎