I think I’m justified in saying that The Devil Wears Prada have chosen one of the most ridiculous band names of recent times. The music found on their sophomore album Plagues, however, is not quite such a laughing matter.
Plagues is a metalcore album – but that’s a genre label that’s already showing signs of being stretched to breaking point by being forced to contain such a variety of sounds.
The Devil Wears Prada certainly have the “core” component sussed out, with blastbeat attacks and lead-heavy muted guitar chugging providing a bludgeoning power to the heavier sections. There’s no disputing the intensity at this end – nor, for that matter, the technical skill of the musicians.
However, I found the “metal” side of the equation to be much the weaker of the two. I’d even go so far as to say The Devil Wears Prada would be far more accurately described by the term “emocore”. That’s not to be derogatory, as such – it’s more an observation that the melodic passages between the hardcore savagery owe a lot more to the pop-punk market than they do to what I think of as contemporary metal.
The overproduction has a large part to play in this; for example, using vocoder treatments on voices that are already high and clear seems like overcooking the joint. I think the melodies could have carried it better on their own without the aid of the studio bling.
The song structures aren’t too shoddy, even if the lyrics are largely incomprehensible (especially the guttural bellowed stuff), and the fetish for oddly inappropriate names carries over onto the song titles, too, giving us tunes called “HTML Rulez D00d”, “Reptar, King of the Ozone” and “Goats On A Boat”. There’s either a very sharp wit behind those titles, or they’re a smokescreen to cover up a lack of lyrical substance. I just can’t tell which is the case after a couple of listens - and I’m not keen enough on Plagues to give it more attention than that.
As baffling as it may be to me, the band certainly sound like they have the courage of their convictions - and there’s no escaping the instrument skills on display in Plagues. So if The Devil Wears Prada don’t do it for me, it probably says as much about my age as it does their style.
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Posted in Music reviews |
February 21st, 2008 at 3:38 am
Worst review ever.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Most undescriptive comment ever.
Do you care to explain why you disagreed with the review? Or are you just going to recycle Simpsons quotes?
March 5th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
anyone know where they recorded the album?
June 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Worst review ever.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
At least Dwayn thought of it first, David. Do you have an excuse handy, or has mom told you to leave the interwebs alone and do your homework now?
August 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Useful review. thank you.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
the devil wears prada is flippin amazing. but i suppose everyone is entitled to their own oppinion. BUT this review does kinda… suck. and, the devil wears prada does have a meaning behind it. basically, it means that what the devil has to offer maybe appealing (like the brand prada is appealling).
October 6th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Surely in that case they should have called themselves “The Devil Wears Atticus”?