Album Review: The Devil Wears Prada – 8:18
2 min read
If you’ve enjoyed any of the singles released so far from The Devil Wears Prada’s new album (Martyrs, Home for Grave, First Sight), chances are you’ll love the rest of 8:18. Without overselling it, the album is musically and lyrically darker than 2011’s Dead Throne full of passion, energy and rhythm from beginning to end, slowing down only briefly for a few patches of clean vocals.
The Devil Wears Prada teamed up with Underoath’s Matt Goldman and Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz to produce the stellar new album.
Exploding into a heavy onslaught of vocals, melodic guitars and brutal drumming from the opening track Gloom, 8:18 is a mature collection of songs, solidifying the band’s position as one of the best in the current metal scene. Gloom blends into Rumors which could be even better than the album’s opener. A solid drum and bass line lay the background for Mike Hranica and Jeremy DePoyster’s complementary vocals – a brilliant mix of heavy and clean voices.
The latest single First Sight is the third track, coming on strong from the start. Explosive guitar and bass notes litter the song before fading away for the clean choruses.
Things slow down when the title track 8:18 comes on a little later, providing a softer musical background to the heavy vocals as Hranica sings about suffering and loss, backed up with some clean vocals at times. The softer music works well to complement the song without taking away from the vocals or story.
Right in the middle is a song called Care More, a fitting centrepiece as a slower, mostly clean track in between the heavy Sailor’s Prayer and Martyrs. Care More offers an almost sonic sounding rhythm paired with emotional clean vocals with a touch of an unclean breakdown.
Martyrs gets back to business, making up for the softness of Care More by wasting no time in picking the pace back up and bursting into another heavy gem of a song.
The other single released so far, Home for Grave, comes in just before the album closer and is another melodic hardcore track which was perfect for a single to offer a taste of 8:18.
Following on to close out the album is In Heart, a heavy arrangement which fades into another clean chorus. A fitting closer, the song offers a terrific balance between the rhythmic clean choruses and heavy verses, and leaves the listener hanging for more.
8:18 is a strong addition to The Devil Wears Prada’s catalogue, offering the mature and infectious melodic hardcore sound they’ve come to be so well known for. Fans should be pleased with their latest effort which is impressive from start to finish and seems to lack a weak link.
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