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Review: The Devil Wears Prada - Dead And Alive [Live CD/DVD]

Ferret Music // "And then it kicks in, a wall of sound that shows how far the band have come in defining their sound"

by ivarmac, June 26th, 2012 and has been Read 3367 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies June 26th, 2012.

Ohio’s The Devil Wears Prada have always had a zeitgeist quality to their brand of melodic, soaring Metalcore. From none-more-modern song titles such as ‘HTML Rulez D00D’ to releasing a concept EP about the Zompocalypse, the bands ability to link their music with the lives of their listeners has won them a huge following since 2005’s Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord. Of course a knack for mixing catchy, reverb-drenched guitar lines and clean vocals into the juddering rhythms and blasting drums of Metalcore hasn’t harmed them, so how does it come across live?

On the basis of live CD and DVD combo Dead And Alive: extremely well! Fans of the bands earlier work may feel a little cheated by a set list that leans heavily on previous studio album Dead Throne but the band still find time to squeeze in the requisite amount of fan favourites and deliver a great show in swaggering style.

The Dead Throne title track kicks things off and it’s an anthemic opener, the screams of the crowd filtering through the atmospheric synth pads and doom-laden drum kick that announce the band. And then it kicks in, a wall of sound that shows how far the band have come in defining their sound. Lead guitarist Chris Rubey’s melodies soar over the shuddering, stop-start rhythms as Mike Hranica screams his heart out in tube socks and shorts, looking like the world’s angriest Boy Scouts troupe leader.

Everyone goes nuts, band included, and the first mosh pit of the evening quickly forms. But there’s no time to rest as the band immediately launch into the next track from Dead Throne, ‘Untidaled’. It’s an album highlight and introduces the first big breakdown of the evening. It showcases the harder aspects found in the rhythm section and sounds as choppy and brutal as you’d hope.

WATCH // 'Untitled'

Zombie EP’s ‘Escape’ marks a shift away from the band’s latest and its well received, but crowd favourite ‘Sassafras’ from breakthrough album With Roots Above Branches really gets everyone going again. A short section of atmospheric build up leads us back to the latest LP with ‘Born To Lose’ and, befitting a track with one of the bands heaviest verses to date, Mike Hranica’s scream sounds particularly brutal, bassy and raw.

Two more songs from Dead Throne follow, ‘Mammoth’ and crowd favourite ‘Kansas’ respectively. The opening riff to ‘Kansas’ receives a huge cheer and clap-along, the instrumental sounding rapturous and providing a welcome moment of respite among the high-tempo, testosterone-fuelled set. ‘Hey John, Whats Your Name Again?’ from second album Plagues gets a great reception, the crowd lapping up the older material before we return to the latest for ‘Vengeance’ and another song from Zombies, ‘Outnumbered’.

WATCH // 'Hey John, What's Your Name Again'

The altered opening riff for ‘Assistant to the Regional Manager’ goes down as the most cheered moment, Rubey’s guitar sounding epic against the pounding drums for The Devil Wears Prada’s calling card from With Roots above Branches. Jeremy DePoyster hits every note in the cleanly-sung chorus and the whole effect is as magical as on record, although this may be Hranica’s weak point of the evening as his screams sound a little tired and muddy in the verse. It’s a good thing that ‘Dez Moines’ from the same record follows and inspires a huge singalong, the crowd filling in the gaps for the band. It’s a rare break from the newer material and, perhaps in acknowledgement, the band dip into first album Dear Love: A Beautiful Discourse for ‘Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over’ and it makes an interesting counterpoint to the newer tracks on display.

‘Chicago’ and ‘Constance’ from Dead And Alive keep the energy up before another return to With Roots Above Branches for the final song, the magnificent stop-start riff to ‘Danger: Wildman’ marking an appropriately wild end to a high-energy show.

The tightly-coiled drumming of Daniel Williams really deserves special mention at this point. His ability to anchor all the competing instruments into a visceral, exciting package has been central to The Devil Wears Prada’s success and, as you would expect, the drums sound fantastic throughout Dead and Alive. Occasionally the keyboards and sections of Hranica or DePoyster’s vocals get lost in the mix but overall the sound quality is pretty great, with the guitars and drums sounding particularly punchy and clear.

Dead and Alive is a great package and a good reason for anyone going to their upcoming UK tour with August Burns Red and Whitechapel to get very excited indeed.

Dead And Alive is available from today.

Tracks to check out:

1. Dead Throne
2. Untidaled
3. Born To Lose
4. Kansas
5. Assistant To The Regional Manager
6. Danger:Wildman

Tracklisting:

1. Dead Throne
2. Untidaled
3. Escape
4. Sassafras
5. Born To Lose
6. Mammoth
7. Kansas
8. Hey John, What's Your Name Again?
9. Vengeance
10. Outnumbered
11. Assistant to the Regional Manager
12. Dez Moines
13. Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over
14. Chicago
15. Constance
16. Danger: Wildman