Dead Throne

Dead Throne
Studio album by The Devil Wears Prada
Released	September 13, 2011
Recorded	November 2010 – April 2011, at Zing Studios, Westfield, Massachusetts Blacklodge Studios, Eudora, Kansas and The Foundation Recording Studios, Connersville, Indiana
Genre	Metalcore
Length	40:49
Label	Ferret, Roadrunner
Producer	Adam Dutkiewicz, The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil Wears Prada chronology
Zombie EP (2010) Dead Throne (2011)
Singles from Dead Throne
"Born to Lose" Released: June 15, 2011 "R.I.T" Released: August 14, 2011

Dead Throne is the fourth studio album by American metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada. It was released on September 13, 2011 through Ferret Music. It is their highest charting album, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 32,000 copies in its first week.^[1] It also topped the Billboard Christian Albums and Independent Albums chart, as well as peaking at number 3 on the Rock Albums Chart.^[2]

Background

Since the time of The Devil Wears Prada's fame, their past approach of all band members sitting down and writing a record, hasn't been used collaboratively since Plagues, it is noted by guitarist Chris Rubey that about midway through the writing process of their third full-length With Roots Above and Branches Below, their song writing style and process changed drastically.^[3] Vocalist, Hranica commented on the album's lyrical theme is based upon anti-idolatry. He also said it's the "heaviest and most aggressive album to date."^[4]

Hranica speaks on the evolution of the band as a whole: "Our early material was dumb, plain and simple, and moving away from that, I think we've grown into smarter, more creative riffs, along with easier to follow songs. It's things like that that mark the evolution of TDWP."^[4] The album also features the absence of clean vocal passages on select songs, this is the first time The Devil Wears Prada has done this since Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord.^[5]

Musical style and themes

Mike Hranica explained that Dead Throne did not need "to sound a certain way throughout."^[5] Rhythm guitarist Jeremy DePoyster's clean vocals are still contrasted with a wide array of screamed vocals, which are featured more prominently than clean singing. Lead guitarist and primary songwriter Chris Rubey stated that the musical direction of the album on the Zombie EP was "heavier, more sinister, and zombie-like. Those songs were written pretty much solely by me on my computer and that’s why they sound different. For Dead Throne we wanted to do that and obviously bring in some of the other elements people liked in Plagues.^[3]

While Zombie was centrally themed lyrically and musically around a specific topic, Dead Throne conveys a central message with common themes "revolving around idols." Hranica expands when asked about his lyrical themes, which have always been very abstract and metaphorical in order to draw out different meanings depending on the interpreter:^[5]

“

The record is mostly based on idolatry. There's a lot of different lyrical content. It's not a concept record, but a lot of it has to do with anti-idolatry... it's the idea of putting up our idols, heroes, and entities we worship onto a figurative throne. Those things won't stay up there, and they're not meant to be up there. That idea behind Dead Throne is making kings out of things that shouldn't be kings.

”

Hranica also stated that many of the album's negative themes were inspired from the ending of his 5-year relationship, and revealed that Polish black metal band, Behemoth was the main influence for the record's heavy sound.^[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	[7]
Allmusic	[8]
Audiopinions	[9]
Christian Music Zine	[10]
Jesus Freak Hideout	[11]
The Metal Critic	[12]
The NewReview	[13]
Revolver	[14]
Thrash Hits	[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dead Throne"	2:45
2.	"Untidaled"	2:55
3.	"Mammoth"	2:43
4.	"Vengeance"	3:02
5.	"R.I.T."	2:49
6.	"My Questions"	3:12
7.	"Kansas"	3:36
8.	"Born to Lose"	3:05
9.	"Forever Decay"	3:25
10.	"Chicago"	2:45
11.	"Constance" (featuring Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying)	3:19
12.	"Pretenders"	3:28
13.	"Holdfast"	3:49
Total length:		40:49

Personnel

The Devil Wears Prada Daniel Williams – drums Andy Trick – bass guitar Chris Rubey – lead guitar Jeremy DePoyster – rhythm guitar, clean vocals Mike Hranica – lead vocals James Baney – keyboard, synthesizer, piano

Production[16] Produced by The Devil Wears Prada and Adam Dutkiewicz Engineered by Adam Dutkiewicz and Jim Fogarty Mixed by Adam Dutkiewicz Mastered by Tom Baker Synthesizer producer, keyboards by Joey Sturgis Additional vocal production by Jeremy McKinnon Booking by Dave Shapiro of The Agency Group Artwork by Dan Seagrave

References

1. ^ Up for Discussion Jump to Forums (2009-09-14). "Lady Antebellum 'Own' the Billboard 200 With Second No. 1 Album". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/news/lady-antebellum-own-the-billboard-200-with-1005361992.story#/news/lady-antebellum-own-the-billboard-200-with-1005361992.story. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
2. ^ Rat, Little (2008-02-29). "The Devil Wears Prada’s Dead Throne Debuts at #10 on Billboard". Littleratbastard.com. http://www.littleratbastard.com/?p=14049. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Kaufman, Spencer. "Chris Rubey on Dead Throne". Devil Wears Prada Guitarist Chris Rubey Dishes on Band’s New Album ‘Dead Throne’. Loudwire. http://loudwire.com/devil-wears-prada-chris-rubey-interview-new-album-dead-throne/. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Bennett, Valerie. "Mike Hranica on Dead Throne Lyrics". Interview with The Devil Wears Prada – July 14, 2011. Lithuim Magazine. http://www.lithiummagazine.com/interview-devil-wears-prada-%E2%80%93-july-14-2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Florino, Rick. "Mike on Dead Throne Vocals". The Devil Wears Prada Talk "Dead Throne", Warped Tour, "Shawshank Redemption" and More. Artist Direct. http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/the-devil-wears-prada-talk-dead-throne-warped-tour-shawshank-redemption-and-more/9008367. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
6. ^ Jon Wiederhorn, Christopher (2011). The 25 Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock. Revolver. pp. 38—39. ISBN 1527-408X. 
7. ^ "Devil Wears Prada, The - Dead Throne - Album Review". AbsolutePunk.net. 2011-09-13. http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=2415842. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
8. ^ Lymangrover, Jason (2011-09-13). "Dead Throne - The Devil Wears Prada". AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/dead-throne-r2249840. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
9. ^ Bilbo (2011-09-07). "The Devil Wears Prada « Audiopinions". Audiopinions.net. http://audiopinions.net/reviews/the-devil-wears-prada/. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
10. ^ Garza, Adrian. "The Devil Wears Prada – Dead Throne (Review)". Christianmusiczine.com. http://christianmusiczine.com/the-devil-wears-prada-dead-throne/. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
11. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
12. ^ "The Metal Critic: The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne". The Metal Critic. http://www.themetalcritic.com/the-devil-wears-prada. Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
13. ^ Jonathan Anderson (2011-09-01). "The Devil Wears Prada – Dead Throne « The NewReview". Thenewreview.net. http://thenewreview.net/reviews/the-devil-wears-prada-dead-throne. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
14. ^ "Review: The Devil Wears Prada – Dead Throne - Revolver Magazine". Revolvermag.com. 2011-09-06. http://www.revolvermag.com/reviews/review-the-devil-wears-prada-dead-throne.html. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
15. ^ "Album: The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne". Thrash Hits. http://www.thrashhits.com/2011/09/album-the-devil-wears-prada-dead-throne/. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 
16. ^ "Dead Throne - The Devil Wears Prada". AllMusic. 2011-09-13. http://allmusic.com/album/dead-throne-r2249840/credits. Retrieved 2011-10-20. 

External links

• Official album website
• Official The Devil Wears Prada website