For
the Devil Wears Prada's fourth album,
Dead Throne, the Christian metalcore six-piece is at its most technical and most brutal.
Mike Hranica is a vocal beast, alternating between banshee screams and a Cookie Monster growl, while the rest of the members deliver muscular drop-D power chords, bottom-heavy bass riffs, and ferocious drumming. Sonically, the tone is equally massive. New producer
Adam Dutkiewicz (
Killswitch Engage,
Times of Grace) intensifies things by crushing the frequencies to a damaged maximum. Then, the producer of the group’s back catalog,
Joey Sturgis, was brought back on board to emphasize
James Baney's spine-chilling keyboard orchestration and add some digital touches in the way of vocal effects and choppy ambient sound bursts. Ultimately,
Dead Throne is a multi-segmented 40-minute detonation. The songs are shorter and easier to differentiate than on earlier outings, but still run together -- as they commonly do in technical metalcore and European symphonic metal. Segments are marked by a heavy breakdown, a burst of shredding, a sudden tempo shift, or a switch to the main melodic component,
Jeremy DePoyster’s emo-inflected voice. As a bonus,
As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis makes a guest appearance and roars back and forth with
Hranica on “Constance,” one of
Dead Throne's most powerful moments. But then again, picking a highlight is futile when an album is this merciless. ~ Jason Lymangrover