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. Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz, the record was recorded in several studios across the United States from November 2010 – April 2011. The album is a follow-up to The Devil Wears Prada's 2009 album, With Roots Above and Branches Below. Much like their previous efforts the album's lyrics were penned by lead vocalist Mike Hranica, whose lyrical direction focused on anti-idolatry concepts. The band's musical style changed after the success of the Zombie EP, this led to, what Hranica described as; fusing the melodic elements of their previous studio albums with the ferocity of Zombie.
Background and recording
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 songwriting style and process changed drastically. 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."
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." 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. Dead Throne was recorded from November 2010 to April 2011, with the sessions taking place three different recording studios in the United States, which were Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts, Blacklodge Studios in Eudora, Kansas and The Foundation Recording Studios in Connersville, Indiana.
Composition
Influences, style and themes
Mike Hranica explained that Dead Throne did not need "to sound a certain way throughout." 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.
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:
Hranica also stated that many of the album's negative themes were inspired from the ending of his five-year relationship.
Critical reception
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". The album was credited for its more experimental and orchestral take on metalcore, and less produced and more violent sound. Ryan Williford of Audiopinions gave the album a 7.5 out of 10 describing the band's choice of producer, Adam Dutkiewicz as a wise move for the band. This is because Williford believes that Joey Sturgis, who produced all of their discography prior to Dead Throne, overproduces his work. He credited the record for its rawer and more natural sound. Drew Beringer of AbsolutePunk also favored Dead Throne for the variety on the record, particularly praising The Devil Wears Prada for their instrumental song "Kansas" and their evolution as songwriters. Jason Lymangrover on a review for Allmusic gave the album three and a half stars out of five, describing it as being "at its most technical and most brutal" and comparing it to "technical metalcore and European symphonic metal."