Let me make one thing clear, I am not a big fan of death metal. I do listen to some post-hardcore (A Day to Remember) and some of what I like to call art metal (Mastadon), but the intense screaming and lack of musicianship just puts me off from that specific rock genre. However, after I heard that Ohio-based Christian metal band The Devil Wears Prada was doing a Zombie-themed concept EP (suitably named Zombie EP), I decided to take a leap head first into one of the bigger names in the genre. Safe to say, the five song EP is still what I listen to when I shoot waves after waves of zombies in Left 4 Dead.

After the Zombie wave has died down (get it…), it was time for me to be exited about their new album, Dead Throne. The album, just like the EP before it, is a face-full of metal with incredible instrumentals and pacing.

The album starts out with it’s namesake track, which is a bombastic opener, starting like an incredible action movie. From their, Dead Throne doesn’t let up. The ferocity of each song (“Mammoth” and “Born To Lose” are large stand-outs) keeps pushing the album to it’s climactic finish. The last two tracks, “Pretenders” and “Holdfast” are probably the two best songs on the LP. “Pretenders” showcases all of the band at one point or another, which all combined sounds incredible. “Holdfast” is another full-speed-ahead moshfest of a song, added by some great vocal work from Jeremy DePoyster and Chris Rubey, as well as the screamer Mike Hranica.

The two softest tracks happen to be both geography named. The first of two, “Kansas,” is a softer instrumental piece, featuring some great guitar work that can feel both pit-worthy and zen. “Chicago” starts in the same vein as the latter, but vocalist Mike Hranica breaks it up with his mixture of his typical screams and some Thursday-style singing thrown in there as well. If you are looking for something like 2009’s “Louder Than Thunder” (off of With Roots Above and Branches Below), then you might as well stick to that instead.

The biggest selling point/draw back to this album is the vocal work. If you are a fan of screaming, then this album is perfectly fine to get. However, if you’d like to understand what your frontman is saying, then this album is probably not for you.

If you don’t mind the genre, or really enjoy metal, this is a very good album to pick up. Yeah, you might not be able to understand what Hranica is saying, but the substance in the band as a whole is more than enough to make up for it. This album will keep the metalheads moshing for years to come, or until they release another album. Can’t wait to hear them on their next go round at the Warped Tour.

I can only imagine how insane that show would be.

Final Grade: B+

Go Download: “Pretenders”

You can listen to Dead Throne in its entirety here! Enjoy! The full album will be released on September 13th.