The Devil Wears Prada have always been a well respected band in the metalcore scene, having toured with some of the big players, including Parkway Drive, Slipknot, and Slayer.
The unique vocals found on their records aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and they have copped criticism by traditionalists for it in the past.
Fans of the band however maintain that Mike Hranica’s guttural approach, contrasted against the clean vocals of Jeremy DePoyster, are an asset to the band and integral to their distinctive sound.
Unfortunately not all these assets are captured on the live recording for Dead & Alive.
There are obvious differences between live and studio recordings, but as a rule The Devil Wears Prada have produced a live sound of a much higher standard than this.
The fact is they sound tired and it is not a tight performance. This could be due to the fact that it was recorded at the tail end of a gruelling tour schedule when the band was obviously no longer at their best.
The accompanying DVD shows they are still pouring their all into the show and the crowd doesn’t seem to be deterred in the least.
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The instrumentals are individually up to standard but Hranica’s vocal performance really detracts from the entire recording. It’s really too bad a show from earlier on in the tour wasn’t used when he would have been at the top of his game.
Any first time listeners might be deterred by this recording and rule them out entirely, which would be a shame because they have in their arsenal some excellent work in their back catalogue.
