THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA // FLOWERS

Nov 12

FLOWERS IS A HAUNTING BOUQUET OF GRIEF, GROWTH AND GRACE - CAPTURING THE BAND’S TWENTY-YEAR CAREER AND OFFERING THEIR MOST HUMAN RECORD TO DATE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5)

There are very few bands in modern metalcore that have endured, adapted and thrived, and The Devil Wears Prada is one of them. Two decades in, the Ohio-bred collective has grown from a small-town scene pioneer to a genre visionary group; from chaotic With Roots Above and Branches Below (released 2009) to melancholy in Color Decay (released 2022), embracing evolution over repetition, without losing the thing that makes them… them. Spanning their career, The Devil Wears Prada have always tried to make statements, but with Flowers, their ninth studio album coming out November 14, 2025, they are making their most profound statement yet. It is an album that shows expansion in various genres, and a lyrical reckoning - a confrontation with aging, mental health, faith and life purpose. Jeremy DePoyster (guitar, clean vocals) remarks: “Flowers is 20 years into a journey - the highs, the lows, a reckoning with what it means to be a human catapulting through the chaos that life throws at us continually.” And we all felt that, before the music is even on.

Flowers is not just any album; it is crafted by a team of great collaborators including Tyler Smyth (I Prevail, Falling In Reverse), Colin Brittain (Papa Roach, Linkin Park), Bobby Lynge (Fit For A King) and mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bring Me The Horizon, Spiritbox), it is an emotionally devastating sequence of introspective and haunting melodies, bursting with energy and isolation at the same time - mostly translated in lyrics during the band’s time spent writing it in rural Arkansas. But let’s delve into it track by track.

Starting off with “That Same Place” and “Where The Flowers Never Grow”, two tracks that seem to compliment each other via their titles, we have the opening score for the band’s accompanying short film That Same Place Where The Flowers Never Grow. The track serves a cinematic and brooding soundtrack, layered with synths and guitars before detonating into post-metal grandeur, entwining the beauty and decay of flowers. It feels exactly like it sounds, lying down on the grass under the sunlight with eyes closed, pondering about the meaning of life and the interplay of memento mori and memento vivere. After all the rage that is released in the middle, with guitar breakdowns and scream vocals making their first appearance, it mellows out again into a more soulful melody, to flow directly into the emotional heart of the record aka Track 2.

“Where The Flowers Never Grow” is a perfect blend of clean vocals, screams that feel like an open wound, powerful guitars and anthemic choruses. Lyrically, the song is about the persistence of darkness even amid success whilst musically, it feels like a continuity from Color Decay, but with larger production and even more emotional strength. But the despair does not stop there as “Everybody Knows” comes on, full of blast beats, melodies and aggression remniscent of Dead Throne, filtered through the modern polish of Post Human (Bring Me The Horizon), something that one could not image works together at first, but The Devil Wears Prada have perfected. The song’s lyrics are salt in the already painful wound, the fight with imposter syndrome and the awareness that ‘everybody knows’ the version of you that is not real. If the band has not already struck a cord with its music, the lyrics definitely have.

The next tracks “So Low” and “For You” are probably my two favourites from the album. The former is one of the band’s most vulnerable pieces to date, with ambient electronics exploding into Hranica’s signature guttural screams, capturing the collapse of self-worth. It feels like Slipknot’s Snuff meets Architects’ Animals, a song that lives in sorrow and rage. The latter track, which has already been released and amassed hundreds of thousands of views is already a fan favourite. Featured (for the first time) on Billboard’s Active Rock Chart, it bridges vulnerability with heaviness, has the catchy chorus that gets stuck in your head, and it is probably as close to a love song as The Devil Wears Prada ever gets. It is an anthem on all levels, and one that would have the entire venue singing back every single lyric when performed live. But after the calm comes the storm as "All Out” (a title perfectly representative of the vibe of the song) brings relentless drumming, razor-edged breakdowns and lyrical rage.

So far the album is an emotional rollercoaster, and we are not even halfway yet, as “Ritual” comes on; dark, hypnotic, with haunting synths and a ritualistic feeling. The song thrives on rhythm and repetition and shows Gering’s (keys, synths, programming) production mastery. The cinematic feeling of the album definitely stands out during this track, and continues on to “When You’re Gone”, which is melancholic, emotional and fragile. Both songs are about guilt, addiction, grief and mourning, bringing back the recurring theme and contrast of remembering what was lost and cherishing what remains. The tracks swell and collapse, feeling like heavy rainfall as they lead onto “The Sky Behind The Rain”, the rainbow after the storm. Perhaps the album’s most uplifting track, it is melodic and cathartic, showing that the band is not only about doom and gloom, but about creating songs people can headbang to, showing that their twenty-year experience sharpened their sound and musical style.

Despite Flowers being a 14-song record, something unheard of in the age of the 5-second attention span and fast-food music consumption, it does not feel long nor does it slump. Instead, it is a slow burn building into crescendos, using texture and emotion to make it interesting as well as soul-crushing. “The Silence” is the track that perfectly captures this feeling, and if you are a fan of Chemical from Color Decay, this song does not need more explanation - it is for you. Cutting deep comes “Eyes”, with dissonant chords and abrupt cuts between the vocals to reinforce the feeling of being haunted and constantly watched - by others, by yourself and by your past. In comparison to all the other tracks so far, this song reinforces the band’s heavier side, with more brutal vocals, intense drumming and Fit For A King-like influences in its production.

Finishing off strong with “Cure Me” and “Wave”, The Devil Wears Prada experiment with industrial and post-hardcore elements, showcasing their versatility and exploration of different musical genres. They are tracks that push creative boundaries, offering distortion but also emotional resolution. They come with surprises - shimmering electronics and brutal breakdowns, both songs capture the duality of Flowers, pain and peace, destruction and rebirth. Following DePoyster’s words: “Anyone who hears the song feels seen, that they’re not alone in the darkest corners of their mind, and that we’re all trying to find a way forward.” This is all contained in the final track of the album that by this point felt too quick to process. “My Paradise” is a benediction, with clean melodic vocals and atmospheric keys, there is no violence but acceptance. It is the band’s creative rebirth, the balance between beauty and brutality, a crafting that is both personal as it is universally resonant. Where their earlier albums were about rage, mortality, loss and faith, Flowers is the appreciation for the in between, sharpened by The Devil Wears Prada’s years of touring. It is filled with chemistry and purpose, showing that the band is not withering away, it is in full bloom.