ALBUM REVIEW: FLOWERS BY THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
American Metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada is about to release their ninth album ‘Flowers’. The band comprises of remaining original members Mike Hranica (vocals), Jeremy DePoyster (guitar, clean vocals) alongside Kyle Sipress (guitar), Giuseppe Capolupo (drums) and Jonathan Gering (keyboardist/producer-songwriter). The band have just toured Australia, they played Riverstage a few weeks ago. They now find themselves in the rare position of the band are experiencing a massive resurgence in popularity, and this album will cement it.
The new album ‘Flowers’ opens with a lilting piano tune and a statement about “I used to believe if I got everything I wanted, I’d finally be happy… but it was just a dream”, The introduction of ‘The Same Place’ readies the listener for the pop-punk explosion of ‘Where The Flowers Never Grow’. The song has a catchy melody, with heavy breakdowns and interesting emotional lyricism about the disappointments in life. The song ‘Everybody Knows’ is a dark and heavy song with huge breakdowns. The following song ‘So Low’ is an album highlight. The clean singing is so good with the melodic guitar, as it is spunctuated with heavy breakdowns. The song is about the impacts of emotional lows after highs, with frustration at a lack of control, and a desire to feel alive despite the negative consequences.
The melodic song ‘For You’ with its emotional resonance and imagery of flowers and decay, has a fantastic chorus that make the track another standout. The big guitar riffs that bring in the rapid drumming and dark vocals of ‘All Out’ is heavy before the clean vocals in the chorus soften the song. Then, ‘Ritual’ is a great song, another album highlight, where the two voices in the band intertwine into a powerful shadow play of dark and light within a person. The synths give the song a commanding and infectious sound, but still reflect a sense of menace.
The huge sounding ‘When You’re Gone’ is about dealing with grief. There is a core of pain in the song which is very affecting. The huge, solemn drums and the interplay of the two voices bring the song, and the album, to an emotional peak. The voice of the female protagonist brings in the light drumbeats and lilting melody of the very short ‘The Sky Behind The Rain’. Then, light pulsing synths and the great clean vocal bring in ‘The Silence’ where the contrasts between melodic verses with the constant drum kick give the song a driving urgency of looking for an escape.
The song ‘Eyes’ starts with those distinctive synths, joined voices mirroring the two sides of a personality. The drums and fuzzed-out guitar riffs bring a sense of anxiousness as the song progresses into the huge chorus. The lovely melodic start to ‘Cure Me’ with its great synths and drums is great hard rock. The song builds into a cathartic chorus where the realisation dawns that there is no cure for life. The acoustic ballad of ‘Wave’ slows everything down. It’s atmospheric, melodic, and airy. However, the beautiful song ends abruptly, as it sets up for the closing song.
The album closes out with ‘My Paradise’ with its electronic samples giving the song an experimental sound. It wraps up the mature lyricism and emotional honesty as you finally realise you can’t have everything in life, and that self-sabotage with the intrusive thoughts needs to be dealt with if you can. ‘Flowers’ is an album for fans who seek deeper meaning behind their lyrics and shows that The Devil Wears Prada are a band that continues to grow and evolve their sound.
