Over the past sixteen years since their debut, Dear Love, The Devil Wears Prada has been one of the most consistent bands in metalcore releasing seven albums over the past decade and a half. It’s not unfounded to say the band has become one of the leading stalwarts of the subgenre. Color Decay (Solid State) is the band’s eighth album, and from the opening singles released earlier in the year, it was already clear that the band is continuing on their killer album streak.

The album opens with the track ‘Exhibition’ showcasing what the band do best, making songs to make their audience move. Almost a whole minute of the opening song is dedicated to building up to a crescendo, the drum beat speeding up, vocalist Mike Hranica gradually picking up tempo as he speaks until launching into the first chorus of the album. The following verses continue this pattern of build up into chorus until the tail end of ‘Exhibition’ as the band shows that their sound hasn’t gone soft at all, causing chaos with a breakdown. 

Even from the first track on the album, there is no easing into this, just metalcore at its purest.

Like their peers in Silverstein and I Prevail, what has been one of the band’s strengths is the ability to create catchy, meaningful choruses that touch on mental health. This is no more present in the release than it is in ‘Trapped’. “Does it feel like a heart attack” Hranica croons softly before going all out with “BUT I’M HERE WITH YOU!” one of those songs that you can tell from the first ringing of the verse that the song will be one audiences will be screaming back out loud.

Closing on a subdued tone with ‘Cancer’, the band shows a different side – “I hope it’s cancer, and not something out” is cried out with such pain in his voice. Elevating the rest of the album to the next level, it’s one of those songs that truly show you that the sextet are dedicated to their work. As the sound dissipates into the ether, there’s that feeling you get at the end of a live performance. The lights come back on and a moment is needed to take all in that you’ve witnessed before the curtains are pulled.

The Devil Wears Prada, as mentioned before, are now over 16 years into their career. They’ve cemented their sound into the beast we know today. They may not be reinventing the wheel with Color Decay, but the band has solidified and demonstrated once again just what an album by The Devil Wears Prada means –  pure, unfiltered, undiluted metalcore at its best.

Buy thealbum here: https://tdwp.ffm.to/colordecay

7 / 10

CHARLIE HILL