The Devil Wears Prada have been a part of my life for over a decade, first as a kind of scene-core guilty pleasure and later as a band that expanded my heavy music palate. Attending the 10th anniversary tour for the band’s third studio album, With Roots Above and Branches Below, serves as a reminder of how far the band has evolved and how much I still enjoy those cheesy early moments.
I remember hearing Mike Hranica’s shriek of, “I know a ghost!” followed by the br00talist of breakdowns while attending Warped Tour in 2009, thinking this was what heavy music was supposed to sound like. In a matter of two years, the band’s Zombie EP and Dead Throne would make tracks from With Roots Above sound silly. Even so, revisiting the album leading up to the show and witnessing the anniversary tour itself reminded me how much fun these songs really are.
In support of the tour, Prada brought along noise rockers ’68, featuring Josh Scogin, formerly of The Chariot and Norma Jean, and Fit For a King, another metalcore act currently five albums deep into a run with Solid State Records, the new home for The Devil Wears Prada. Both set the table well for a night of guttural screams and bass-heavy breakdowns.
After a five song introduction, which includes the band’s recent cover of Julien Baker’s “Sour Breath”, Prada kicks into Roots. What I’m first struck by is how fun it is to sing along to these songs, particularly guitarist/clean vocalist Jeremy DePoyster’s parts. Midway through opening track “Sassafras”, the crowd joins as a choir for Depoyster’s lines of, “What should we ask for? Who should we turn to / If all we know is burning bridges?” It’s a wonderful blast from the past and a delightful preview of what’s in store.
Indeed, the crowd is invested and involved, especially for tracks like “Dez Moines”, “Danger: Wildman”, and even the band’s softest track, “Louder Than Thunder”. Each of the album’s 11 tracks features at least one moment that brings the crowd alive – a clear signal of what makes an album special 10 years after its release.
While it’s true that the band would never write parts like the goofy keyboard interlude on “Big Wiggly Style” or default to such cringeworthy song titles post-2009, With Roots Above and Branches Below still serves as a time capsule, marking the moment when The Devil Wears Prada stood atop the scene. Their later work would explore the boundaries of modern metalcore before investigating more ambient and experimental rock sounds, pushing them beyond the Warped Tour crowd and placing them amongst new peers.
It’s almost hard to believe that the band I remember discovering as a group of hungry teenagers is now six full length albums and two EPs deep into their career. While I’ll never hesitate to dive into whatever The Devil Wears Prada releases, I’m grateful for a night allowing me to travel back to an album I had largely written off, forgetting that sometimes it’s okay to head bang to a silly breakdown with a smile on your face.
by Kiel Hauck
Kiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.
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