The Devil Wears Prada- With Roots Above And Branches Below

Last year on the Warped Tour, the Dayton, OH, Underoath/Still Remains influenced metal band, The Devil Wears Prada, caught many eyes and ears. This year they'll do it again, only this time with songs from their newest album, With Roots Above And Branches Below. They are sure to catch even more eyes and ears (as they did mine with their song "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?" from their last album) with this heavy new material.

The album explodes into existence through the song, "Sassafras", staying true to TDWP form. The keyboard in this song give it a more melodic feel than an average metal song, and Jeremy DePoyster's crystal-clear vocals near the end add to that feel. "I Hate Buffering", the album's next track, has a great lead guitar that keeps it heavy throughout the song's three minutes, and as with any song with Jeremy's vocals, it has that extra touch that gives it near perfection. Songs like "Dez Moines", "Danger: Wildman", and "Ben Has A Kid" display Jeremy's vocals more, while keeping the song hard. "Danger: Wildman" has a really sick guitar part in the song, but before the end the song it slows down shortly and there is a completely amazing violin piece, shortly followed by DePoyster declaring "All of love can be traced to a Maker". It's very refreshing to know a band can be unbelievably heavy and be rising in popularity and still acknowledge God in their music. The next song, "Ben Has A Kid", has the same kind of lyrics when they say "Beyond this world is worth dying for." "Louder Than Thunder" proved me wrong when I thought TDWP could never be soft. I was very wrong. "Louder Than Thunder" is not only the album's softest song, but there is zero screaming, and there is nothing hard about the song. The piano is very eerily beautiful and matches the lyrics very well. It's definitely a big difference for TDWP, let alone this album.

So, The Devil Wears Prada has done it again. It would be nice if they could maybe balance out the screaming and the singing a little bit more. Mike Hranica's powerful screaming and the addition of "Louder Than Thunder" proves that TDWP has matured a lot since their sophomore album. This will be a very successful year for them as they set out on the Warped Tour once again.

THIS WEEKEND ONLY!!!!!

The Devil Wears Prada's new album, With Roots Above And Branches Below, is available for streaming on ShockHound this weekend only! I just wish it came with the lyrics. Look for it in stores and online May 5th.

Also, another thing I forgot to mention in the last post was to follow me on Twitter! Sometimes I'll post bits of music news before I put it on here. But most of the time it's just random stuff that I'm sure no one really cares about. If you follow me, I'll be sure to follow back.

-FISHER

Update 4/24

What's up guys, I have some exciting news today!

Recently, Family Force 5 posted a track from their upcoming remix album (Dance Or Die With A Vengeance, May 19th) on Alternative Press's site. The song is called, "Get Your Back Off The Wall (3OH!3 Remix)" and it is pretty good. You can link up to the site here.

In more new music news, Thousand Foot Krutch announced the first single for their Welcome To The Masquerade album due this Fall. The song is called, "Bring Me To Life", and they are offering it for free through Feed The Beat, the Taco Bell contest they won late last year. It comes with some pretty sick artwork, and you can get it here.

UnderOATH posted a new music video on their MySpace. It's pretty strange.

Tooth and Nail recently signed a band called Breaking the Silence. Their new album is being produced by a guy named Toby Wright, who also produced albums for Korn and 3 Doors Down. Also, Chad Szeliga of Breaking Benjamin will be recording the drums for their debut. It's probably going to be epic. They have one demo on their MySpace, where you can also learn more about the band.

Last but not least, the Dove Awards were yesterday, and RED won Rock Recorded Song of the Year for "Lost", and The Afters won Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year for Never Going Back to OK. There were a lot of other awards, but this is a rock blog, so none of us really care about those, right?

Thanks for reading! If you've been wondering how Family Force 5's been doing on the AP Tour, I'll be posting a concert review in the weeks to follow. See ya!

-FISHER

Relient K- Five Score And Seven Years Ago (Classic Review)

Relient K is a name recognized by both Christian and secular markets. Their success was doubled by their 07 release Five Score And Seven Years Ago. This is their fifth album, marking their seven year anniversary, hence the album title. And it is quite a ride.

The opening A Capella song, "Plead The Fifth" is very well executed and would easily convince someone who was not familiar with RK to think this was a professional A Capella group. And a very good one at that. The next track, "Come Right Out And Say It" is a fun song about honesty and integrity. One of the album's harder songs, "I Need You" is about our dependency on God. Unlike many bands that double as Christian/secular artists, the majority of the songs on this album mention God in a more open way than other such artists. Songs such as "Forgiven" and "Give Until There's Nothing Left" demonstrate this. "Devastation And Reform" is another hard track, and like typical RK songs, it has clever and witty lyrics that, a lot of the time, come across as genius. Lines like, "Fear can drive stick and its taking me down this road, A road down which I swore I'd never go" might account for a few chuckles throughout the album. "Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care" is the album's most funny track that proudly proclaims "I just wasted ten seconds of your life." The album closer (that is if you bought the standard edition--I'm not going to get into the special edition), "Deathbed" is an eleven minute song that is about someone's life from beginning to end, and at times is pretty sad. But, in the end, there is a positive message, which is sung by Jon Foreman, and very nicely closes out the album.

Five Score And Seven Years Ago is a very strong effort from Relient K, and they are sure to pick up more than a few fans as their popularity inevitably increases. Their fun and energy is completely contagious, without being corny or overly positive, and they acknowedge God in their music, which is a huge plus.

Update 4/11 HAPPY EASTER! (SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FM STATIC REVIEW)

Happy Easter everyone!

Family Force 5 put their remix for "The First Time" on their myspace. Also, you can now preorder Dance or Die with a Vengeance here. You will receive a free download of the new song, an autographed booklet, and a sick t-shirt.

FM Static has their entire album up at imeem. So get over there and try not to get it too stuck in your head.

That's it for now, see you later. Happy Easter!

FM Static- Dear Diary

FM Static (aka Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine of Thousand Foot Krutch) released their sophmore effort three years ago. Having taken a break for TFK, they are back with their next album, Dear Diary.

Dear Diary is a concept album, that tells the story of a high school kid that moves to a new town, hence the lengthy title of the first track, "Boy Moves To A New Town With An Optimistic Outlook." He keeps a diary, and the rest of the album is about what he writes. "The Unavoidable Battle Of Feeling On The Outside", another lengthy title, is exactly what it sounds like it would be about. There really isn't anything that isn't clear in this concept album.

The entire album is really catchy--exactly what you would expect from this pop/punk group. There isn't a song that won't get stuck in your head at one point or another. The track, "The Voyage Of Beliefs", featuring Tricia Brock of Superchic[k], I find is extremely hard to get out of your head. Another thing that makes it even better is that the lyrics aren't overly positive like most pop/punk bands. The music gets a bit more serious in "Her Father's Song" and the mood continues through the next couple of songs, but picks up again at "The Shindig (Off To College)". The seriousness and fun is perfectly balanced.

Overall Dear Diary is a great album for anyone who's looking for something fun. McNevan and Augustine really surprised me with this one. Just don't listen to it too much, because you're going to find it hard to get it out of your head!

Update 4/8 (SCROLL DOWN FOR THE HOUSE OF HEROES REVIEW)

Hey guys! Just have a quick update this time.

FM Static's new album was released yesterday. Instead of a classic album review, I'll be posting the Dear Diary review Friday. (And by classic review, I mean it's not going to be a new album. It's not going to be extremely old, just not released within the past month.)

House of Heroes released their EP yesterday as well. You can scroll down this page to read the review for that and The End Is Not The End.

EMERY PUT OUT THEIR FIRST SINGLE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!! If you can't tell, I'm excited. You can get to their myspace through here. The song is called "Cutthroat Collapse" and I can tell you it is sick!

That's all for now, see you Friday! Don't forget what Jesus did for you by dying on the cross. It's more amazing than anything anyone's ever done, and He did it for you!

-FISHER

House of Heroes- The End Is Not The End (Classic Review) + The Acoustic End EP (NEW)

House of heroes was not a band that I was familiar with prior to their sophomore release. All of the hype about them finally making a new album prompted me to check them out. And I am very glad I did. House of Heroes left their fans hanging for a whopping four years after their first release (with only two new songs on their re-release to fill the gap) and now, finally, they return with The End Is Not The End.

The End Is Not The End is an album with a little bit of a concept to it, since many of the songs have something to do with World War II. The opening instrumental track leads into the catchy love song "If." The song makes for a great opening track, and is immediately followed by the album's hardest rocking track, "Lose Control." "In The Valley Of The Dying Sun" is a pretty different song dealing with a man who thinks God is his enemy and ends up fighting him and realizing that God was not his enemy. Musically it is a very diverse song, skipping to various tempos, and allowing lead vocalist Tim Skipper to use his falsetto voice more. "Code Name: Raven" is another really catchy song, declaring, "I'd rather die than live without mercy and love." "By Your Side", the song that the album title is derived from, slows the album down for a bit, and actually sounds very nice, telling the story of a man going to war. The second half of the album shows HOH's punk side a little bit more than the first. "Journey Into Space, Pt. 1" and "Drown" have very similar sounding openings, but are still very good songs.

If you bought The End Is Not The End in CD form at one of HOH's shows before March 09, the album closes at "Field of Daggers," a very good closing song.

If you bought The End Is Not The End on iTunes, the last song is "The Young And The Brutal," a hidden track on the previous to March copy. It's a very fun and fast paced song, which fans of "Friday Night" from Say No More will appreciate.

The Acoustic End EP has the two acoustic tracks that took the place of "The Young And The Brutal" for the in-stores release in March. They are both very good songs, although some may find "Ghost" to be a sad and somewhat negative song, as it deals with the life of a man who "fell in with the wrong crowd." Not found on the CD release is the acoustic reworking of "If," which has a little bit of a quicker tempo.

So, in the end (which we know is not really the end), The End Is Not The End blew me away. It is an almost entirely flawless work, sure to make you tap your feet at one point or another, and slowing it down just at the right points. It's an almost perfect blend of songs, and there is not one that I would skip while listening to the album. This is why The End Is Not The End, is--in my opinion--one of the best albums to hit the Christian music market in a very long time.