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With Roots Above The Branches Below CD Review

By: Craig Johnson

As you start the album With Roots Above And Branches Below by the six-piece Iowa based band, The Devil Wears Prada, the screams of Mike Hranica fill your ears. The album starts off with the song Sassafras which has great lyrics and perfectly placed breakdowns.

Now you may be saying this is starting to sound like everything else The Devil Wears Prada have done, well that’s because it is. Unlike some bands, hardcore and not, that completely change their sound with each album they produce, The Devil Wears Prada understand that this is what their fans love and they keep giving their fans what they want. This way, instead of a fan of a band that does changes their sound saying, “Oh well I love their second album” or “I really like their older stuff better”, and things like that, a fan of The Devil Wears Prada will say “I like all their albums”.

As the album continues, you have the songs that were first released, Assistant To he Regional Manager and Dez Moines. Both songs really bring you into the record with easy to sing verses and catchy screamed choruses. Along with songs that bring you in straight from the beginning such as Big Wiggly Style and Danger: Wildman, which features vocals from Our Last Night screamer Trevor Wentworth.

As the album continues, the hardcore screams and vocals keep you listening more and more. Although the next few tracks start to seem a little repetitive. They each come with their own uniqueness. Ben Has A Kid has some of the best and lowest breakdowns on the album. Wapakalypse has strong meaning in politics and the country’s current issues. The album then approaches the softer track, Louder Than Thunder, which is strictly singing and relaxing music until the very end where it leads in perfectly to the final track, Lord Xenu for a few last screams and breakdowns.

Overall I think this album is a success. Once released, it became one of the iTunes top 10 albums. It’s also extremely hard to go to a hardcore show and not see a The Devil Wears Prada shirt in the crowd. This band just keeps getting bigger. The album fits everything The Devil Wears Prada fans want in an album and with their constant growing popularity, I’m certain we will see a fourth album in the future.