The Devil Wears Prada

Dayton, Ohio metalcore act the Devil Wears Prada took their name from the novel and movie, but rebranded it to fit their anti-materialistic Christian ethics. Emerging among the crop of punishing metalcore acts to debut in the early 2000s, they managed to capture a secular audience with 2007 breakthrough Plagues, experiencing a commercial peak soon after with 2009′s With Roots Above and Branches Below and 2011′s best-selling Dead Throne, both of which topped the Billboard Independent Albums chart. Closing the decade, they entered into an era of maturity and sonic evolution with 2016′s Transit Blues and 2019′s The Act, then kicked off the next decade with 2022′s Color Decay.
Formed in 2005, the band consisted of singer and lyricist Mike Hranica (who handled the death growl vocals), guitarist and vocalist Jeremy DePoyster (who performed the clean vocals), guitarist Chris Rubey, bassist Andy Trick, keyboardist James Baney, and drummer Daniel Williams. This lineup recorded the 2005 demo EP Patterns of a Horizon, which was self-released with individual hand-painted covers.
Signing to Victory Records’ positive-themed subsidiary Rise in 2006, the Devil Wears Prada released Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord that summer. After selling more than 30,000 units of their debut, they went back to the studio and began plugging away on 2007′s Plagues, which marked their first appearance on the U.S. charts. With Roots Above and Branches Below followed two years later. They released a concept EP about the apocalypse titled Zombie in 2010. Both of these latter releases debuted in the Billboard Top Ten; the band were also a star live attraction, headlining — and selling out — their own tours for three years running.
In the summer of 2011, they headlined the Vans Warped Tour as a precursor to the release of their fourth album, Dead Throne, which was produced by Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz and released in September of that year. The set peaked on the Billboard 200 at number ten, their highest position to date. The group’s first live album, Dead&Alive, followed in 2012. The Devil Wears Prada began sessions for their fifth proper album in early 2013, working with producers Matt Goldman (Underoath) and Dutkiewicz again in an executive role. The results, 8:18, appeared on Roadrunner in September 2013. The band continued to tour in support of that album through 2014. In early 2015, founding guitarist Rubey parted ways with the band and was replaced by Kyle Sipress. The band issued the intergalactic concept piece Space EP that summer.
A year later, they experienced another lineup change, with Williams amicably leaving the group. Guiseppe Capolupo (DeMise of Eros, Haste the Day) took Williams’ place in the studio for sessions that yielded the band’s sixth effort, 2016′s Transit Blues. The set marked a shift in their sound, incorporating more expansive sonics and an evolution in their approach. Capolupo eventually joined the band full-time along with former session member Jonathan Gering. The newly refreshed unit continued in a vein similar to Transit Blues for seventh set The Act, which was issued through Solid State Records. Produced by Gering, the album included singles “Chemical” and “Lines of Your Hands.”
Just two years later, the group returned with a sequel to 2010′s Zombie EP titled ZII (or Zombie II). The five-song effort was the first with new bassist Mason Nagy and made a strong chart showing. Throughout the front half of 2022, the Devil Wears Prada issued a spate of singles including “Salt” and “Time.” Written and recorded in “remote hideaways” in Wisconsin and California, both cuts appeared on the band’s dynamic eighth album, Color Decay, later that year. ~ Stewart Mason & Neil Z. Yeung