The Devil Wears Prada – With Roots Above And Branches Below – Review

Release Date: May 5th, 2009
Record Label: Ferret Records
Genre: Metalcore

It almost feels like The Devil Wears Prada‘s popularity appeared as if from nowhere. When their first album, “Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord” was released back in 2006, you couldn’t find a fan of theirs except within the closed off hardcore/metal circle. After the rising success of their sophomore album “Plagues,” is where the pool of listeners trampled in. In love with the outrageous song titles and brash metalcore, their sound was bought in droves by precocious youths looking for an outlet for their perceived distress. Now, after signing to the prestigious indie label Ferret Music, the band hoped to complete their most ambitious release yet. Enter “With Roots Above and Branches Below.”

I find it pretty funny that while Ferret Records considered this album to be their biggest to date, kept a giant clamp on it so it didn’t release, and then gave a full album stream a week before release, on Shockhound of all places. Way to bone the mystery of it people. Well you can tell that I’m a little upset, and why is that? Well it’s because “With Roots Above and Branches Below” is amazing and easily The Devil Wears Prada‘s best release. The reasons for this are many. From a higher level of technical prowess asserted, a more pristine balance of light and hard, a taming of goofy track titles, and over all maturity, the record is leaps and bounds away from their past.

Gone are the brash street brawling tracks that fought in circles while the listener stayed around with bloodlust in their eyes, and in are the melodic and technical guitar work and tempos that have found a home with sincere metalcore bands now-a-days. The tracks feel much more intricate and meaningful which, while still having a major presence behind them, never seem to get lost in the shuffle.

However, that doesn’t mean that the album is without gripes. There is a glaring problem with “With Roots Above and Branches Below,” which is that if you have heard Underoath‘s record “Lost In The Sound Of Separation,” this record will feel like a very close relative. The overcharged melodic guitars coupled with the soft harmony sections and the dual shout/singing tag team of both TDWP and Underoath will have you doing double checks to which band you are listening to. I’m not trying to say that Mike and Jeremy were trying to be Spencer and Aaron by any means, but it definitely came out that way. But on the positive end, TDWP has a more unpredictable nature about them, making their music more interesting to listen to compared to UO. Adding to that though, Mike’s harsh vocals with unchanging pitch can sometimes sound like a barking dog that, while saying a multitude of different words, makes the same general sound while singing.

Other then the sound already being done and covered last year, “With Roots Above and Branches Below” is still an amazing album with tons to love about it. The Devil Wears Prada has also shown us that they can mature past the point of goofy and pointless hardcore metal to become a more refined and worthwhile metalcore band. Hell they could have ended up like Drop Dead, Gorgeous and so many other bands that are swimming the same direction as everyone else. Instead they follow only a select few and have one of the best records of 2009 to show for it. ~Staff

Ps. The guest vocals of Trevor Wentworth (Our Last Night) were welcome and needed.

Score: 4.5/5

Track Listing:
1. Sassafras
2. I Hate Buffering
3. Assistant To The Regional Manager
4. Dez Moines
5. Big Wiggly Style
6. Danger: Wildman
7. Ben Has A Kid
8. Wapakalypse
9. Gimme Half
10. Louder Than Thunder
11. Lord Xenu