Music Review: Zombie EP

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IStoleYurCar

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“Find your post, find your shelter in hopes of outliving the undead.
Build your walls, maintain protection with ambitions of beating the odds.”

-Outnumbered by: The Devil Wears Prada

It’s not too often that you come across an album completely devoted to one thing: zombies. Very few bands would have the guts to pull off something as completely off the wall as this. Think about it: Zombies as the concept behind an entire album? How could that possible work? Well The Devil Wears Prada has managed to do it, and do it well.

While you would never know it from the music, The Devil Wears Prada is a Christian metalcore band. Their music is… well let’s just say “heavy” is putting it mildly. It involves a lot of fast and outrageous guitar, cool effects from the keyboardist, and – in all honesty – screaming. That’s right, the singer sings by literally screaming. While this may sound like a terrible idea at first, after listening through the album a couple of times I realized that it actually compliments the guitar quite well. The lead guitarist is actually a pretty good singer himself, so the refrains are frequently left to him. Occasionally the lead singer/screamer and the guitarist sing (and scream – I can’t overstate the screaming here) in unison, such as in the quoted selection at the beginning of this review.

The Zombie EP - The Devil Wears Prada

The album consists of five songs: “Escape,” “Anatomy,” “Outnumbered,” “Revive,” and “Survivor,” with “Anatomy” and “Outnumbered” being the standouts. Since the album tells a story, it’s best enjoyed by listening to the songs in order. The album starts with the general idea of a nascent outbreak, people fighting back, the government figuring out that this is a real problem, and so forth. The album builds and grows until the final track, where the story shifts to a single man as “one of the last few standing”. I love the way it tells a story that gradually and irrevocably expands – much like zombie outbreak –  throughout the album. The Devil Wears Prada make it seem natural. I’d love to see some other bands attempt a similar concept.

My favorite aspect of The Zombie EP is the atmosphere that surrounds it when you listen. It’s not just a couple of songs put together, they obviously put real time and effort into this. You can tell from the first thirty seconds of “Escape,” the first song of the album. It begins with a very suspenseful rain shower with very creepy synthesizers playing along with the rain. This follows the album all the way to the end, from the sound of somebody pulling the starter of a chainsaw at the end of “Escape” then finally starting at the beginning of “Anatomy,” to the extremely scary and realistic sounding radio public service warning at the beginning of “Outnumbered.” It really manages to create this feel to it that is simply unforgettable. If you buy this album for anything, get it for the atmosphere behind it.

In the end I absolutely loved this album. It was an interesting and probably risky idea, and The Devil Wears Prada pulled it off with flying colors. The music itself is played extremely well and the band has lots of talent. The atmosphere is absolutely perfect and it deserves a listen just for that alone. It may be the type of music that is an acquired taste, but if you are someone who likes heavy music or just has to have everything related to zombies, this is a must buy.

Grade: B+

16 thoughts on “Music Review: Zombie EP”

  1. A big thank you to IStoleYurCar for this guest review!

  2. Good stuff He Who is a Thief of Transportation!

    • I officially give up with my name xD

  3. If I could understand it, I would most likely enjoy it. Not to put down your music, but I need to be able to understand words or it irritates me. I enjoy heavy metal (Acid bath mainly).. ANYWHO. I hope some day people do the same with some… Well more clear words, with music.

    • No offence taken 😀 I get that a lot haha. It is kinda sad that a very good story is told but you can only understand it of you have a lyrics sheet in front of you. Oh well I still enjoyed it 🙂

  4. Nice review, horseless-buggy bandit!

    I’ll have to check out a few of these songs. I was unaware that there was such thing as “Christian Heavy Metal.”

    • Some Christians even have in door plumbing.

      • All kidding aside I didn’t know that either until a few years ago when a friend of mine told me that….even Christian rap to. Sells pretty well apparently.

        • I think I’ve heard of a couple of Christian rap songs, but I don’t think the friends who told me about them particularly enjoyed them…

          Nothing like the devil’s music to celebrate Christ! 😉

          I happen to be a Christian, who does go to Church every Sunday, but your other comment still made me laugh out loud!

        • Cool…glad you didn’t take offense. Just good natured ribbing.

        • Yup, I’m not the sort of angry person who would threaten to declare jihad on David Letterman for making a joke about my religion! 😉

        • oh dear

        • I’m not a religious fella, but I have to assume God’s got a sense of humor.

        • Yeah, I think that if there is a God, and he’s anything like what we’re told he’s like, then the last thing he’d want us doing is hurting people over something designed to make people laugh.

  5. Hey Dave can I fire an email at you?

    • Of course. Either use the contact form or just send to [email protected]

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