Zombie EP – Devil Wears Prada

Why I Chose It

Well, I really like Devil Wears Prada. I love their CD "With Roots above and Branches Below". I really like "Plagues". The members may be dumb as nails. But they know how to making some really good music. I haven't had the time to give this some real time, so I thought I'd include it. Do a genre I understand, you know?

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Escape - Brutal intro.The rain at the beginning sets the scene nicely. The "God" growl is pretty neat. They really aren't taking any prisoners. Just straight metalcore. Guitars that don't do anything complicated, but sound good nonetheless. There are the clean vocals. Nice contrast, although I'm not really fooled. I understand what the music is. Really slow breakdown at 3:20. kinda cool. I wonder what tuning they're using. Ending guitar riff is kinda cool. Chainsaw lead into the next song is well done.

Anatomy- The synth at the beginning is cool. And the "Oh!" at :20. First breakdown, 1 minute in. Deep growls. Br00tal, which I say in the best, most ironic way. I like that it's all about Zombies. It sounds corny. But if anyone can do an EP about Zombies, it's The Devil Wears Prada. 

Outnumbered - News intro. This just makes the Zombie thing more real. It wasn't suppose to be subtle though. Piano at 1:05 is a nice touch to break up the breakdown. I like the backing screams. The clean vocals and screams harmony is cool. Synth break at 2:07 is cheap and awesome. The guitar riff at 3:07 is cool. Gang vocals! Always one of my favorite things. 

Revive - "Science has become a child's game" is sang catchily. I like the guitars here at :44. They're all hammers and pull offs, done well. Piano at 1:09 is cool. I like this clean section from 1:10 to 1:30. At 1:44 it drops really well. Then I like the electronica element after it. More cool electronica. "We cannot restore. We cannot recover. All is lost in the flood of the risen dead". The piano ending is done well. Zombie noises at the end are done well too. 

Survivor - Pretty standard metalcore intro. Broken up at :53. Feels like exploring or hiding. Cool bass at 1:47. Very literal lyrics, little metaphor, it's a narrative. Like the double bass at 3:08. Ends nicely too. "I will never see through this nightmare."

Write Up

I may be a little biased. I like Devil Wears Prada already. I like this CD. Like I said, if anyone can get away with making a Zombie EP all about Zombies, it's the Devil Wears Prada. They made this a complete album, all about Zombies. They didn't try and muddle it up with metaphors or songs that were vaguely about zombies. It was all about them. About living in that world, about dealing with the aftermath. It was good. The genre isn't a very wide genre and not much can be done inside the realm of metalcore. It's almost a one trick pony. TDWP does inject their own special brand of stuff in there, namely the synth. Now, it's a pretty standard part of any metalcore band. But back in 2005, when they wrote "Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord", it was fresh. It's still good now. It helps separate them from their peers and separates the music too. We're spared from breakdown after bridge after chorus of similar sounding things. 

The instrumentation is done well here. Like I said, there's not much that can be done, but TDWP does it well. The drums use double bass when appropriate, the bass somehow comes out and the guitars don't do anything overly flashy. This is a primarily vocals driven genre and to do anything intricate would distract and detract from the music. And, it's own length saves it. At 22 minutes, there's not much to get bored of. It's over quickly. They know what they're doing.

Would I Listen Again?

Yea.