My thoughts on another surprising release for 2011: The Devil Wears Prada's Dead Throne. I've always hated this band, but this album I like.
Their music was obnoxious, their lyrics were too religious, and their song titles were sad attempts at witty humor and pop culture references that were irrelevant to the song. The death growls and pig squeals didn't really match their generic metalcore riffs, and when they introduced the melodic choruses it just sounded worse--but nothing topped the retarted use of keys and synth.
The Devil Wears Prada's "Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over"
from their debut album. Awful title, worse music.
The Devil Wears Prada's "HTML Rulez D00d" from their
second album. It's... uh, better than the last? But still
pretty much... bland and awful.
Then out of nowhere they release the more metallic-leaning With Roots Above and Branches Below. I have to admit I was a little bit impressed that this album came from the same band that released the above videos. I picked up a copy and somewhat enjoyed it for a few days, but now I actually no longer know where that CD went. It was okay, but what made it better was knowing that the band was intolerable just two years prior.
This was followed up by the surprisingly heavy Zombie EP, which really displayed the group's musical potential. It was pretty technical, messy and intense. Again, it wasn't great, but given where the band was just a few years prior, it was somewhat impressive to see that growth. This was the first album to not feature corny titles too.
Cover art for Dead Throne
Fast forward another year, and we're now a couple weeks away from the release of The Devil Wears Prada's fourth studio album Dead Throne, due out on September 13 through Ferret (which I thought was defunct?). The group teased some clips and various songs in the last month, but today the album is streaming in full here.
I think I'm going to have to eat my words about this band now. This is some serious hardcore melodic metal, and the group has now demonstrated that they're not some tacky kid's band--they can make big boy music too that's actually pretty good.
Dead Throne is also fairly well structured--something I personally look for in great albums. It's got a great title-track intro that really pulls you in and lets you know this is going to be a heavy ride. It's got a mostly instrumental interlude called "Kansas" midway through the album, which fluidly transitions into my personal favorite track "Born to Lose." "Chicago" is also pretty epic.
Six years into being a band I think the members are now more confident in their musical abilities. Vocalist Mike Hranica's singing used to give me a headache. I could almost see the vein popping in his forehead while listening to him shriek. But now he boasts a very powerful growl/scream that he's obviously be honing and working on over the years. Adam D of Killswitch Engage's production really helps too.
The Devil Wears Prada also have finally figured out how to properly blend in their keyboardist and use of melodic vocals--two of my biggest complaints on previous albums.
I'm not sure if it's really great enough to be on my best of 2011 list, but it's worth checking out. I enjoyed it while I was listening to it, but none of it was really memorable. A great album would make me say "oh man, I have to go back to hear that riff on track 3, and that breakdown on track 7," but I didn't say that with Dead Throne.
I'm sure if the band keeps on their current trajectory, they'll release this generation's Reign in Blood in maybe five years. And that's something I definitely wouldn't have said about the band three years ago.
Color me shocked readers, color me shocked.
The Devil Wears Prada's "Born to Lose" from Dead Throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment