The Devil Wears Prada - Space (EP Review)

I've enjoyed a lot of The Devil Wears Prada's music over the years. In an over saturated crop of metalcore bands the band has always stuck out to me in a couple spots. Vocalist Mike Hranica was at the top of the crop around the 2006-2009ish metalcore boom. Honestly I thought and still think the genre has grown kind of stale. Prada impressed me with releases like With Roots Above and Branches Below, Dead Throne, and the Zombie EP. The Zombie EP became a favorite amongst myself and other fans for its heavy zombie theme and storyline. The EP had tons of little things thrown in like gunshots, chainsaws, etc... to add to the zombie apocalypse vibe of the EP. It was like an insanely fun horror movie set to music. So when Prada announced that their Space EP, in similar fashion to Zombie, would be a themed release I was very interested to check it out.

From the kick-off Prada set the tone with the "mission control" style voiced talking. Then we hear sounds that sound like burning jets and then the band launch into "Planet A". Little plinking sounds emanate that sound very spacey and low grumbling noises simulate space uncertainty and ominous foreboding. It can be like the feeling you get when you read a book like The Martian except set to music. The big standout track to me is "Moon God" which starts with some stuttering noises and an ominous intro before it launches into full Prada mode. I love the moody, brooding nature of the song and I think of all the songs on the EP it captures the vibe really perfectly. Everything on this EP fits nicely with the theme. There are some neat lyrics on the EP that go with the theme and it's fun to check out how they fit in with the story that the band is presenting. I think the band did a nice job capturing the feeling of space and the bleakness of it all. Hranica's vocals sound especially good on this album. He really is starting to becoming one of those vocalists who has his own unique spin and style. Maybe it's just the amount of different things he can do with his screams coupled with some of his interesting lyrics, but he comes off quite a bit more competent than a lot of his peers.

I'm finding that the EP is a much more enjoyable listening experience than the band's last album 8:18. After a couple releases that had captured my interest that album really just didn't keep me coming back a lot. This band is one of the only bands from that mid-2000s metalcore scene that really still keeps me checking their releases out. I think the quality and ideas they put forth are overall pretty neat. I really enjoy the themed EP idea and I hope they continue to do these occasionally. While this EP doesn't conquer the coolness that was the Zombie EP it comes close and recaptures a little of the excitement I had a while back when the band released Dead Throne coming off the tails of that Zombie EP. This is worth checking out and even if you're not the worlds largest metalcore fan or can't stand a lot of the newer metalcore bands, trust me I know how you feel. This genre has become more than a little stale and I rarely find much I enjoy from the genre. However, this band stands out from their peers and they have a better sense of what they are doing than I hear from a lot of bands in this genre. This EP comes out pretty strong, not as strong as some of their past material, but it's still an overall neat listen.