Call Upon The Author

It’s a Sunday night in Brighton, the last thing you’d expect to see advertised is a bruising hardcore gig, but that is exactly what’s going down tonight because The Devil Wears Prada are in town and they’ve brought some friends with them in the shape of Brotherhood Of The Lake and Last Witness.
Deep inside The Haunt venue, Brotherhood of the Lake have already started when I arrive, as I make my way towards the bar it becomes clear that these boys haven’t come to mess around, and while the crowd isn’t particularly responsive they aren’t hostile either. Brotherhood of the Lake put in an energetic performance full of brutal no nonsense hardcore, rather disappointingly equipment problems bring all the momentum the band has built up to a grinding halt and cuts the bands set sadly short.
Up next are Last Witness who turn the intensity up tenfold and have only one goal in mind and that is to absolutely destroy the place, and in fairness that is exactly what they do, within moments the place has descended into chaos, with limbs and stage divers flying all over the place, the band themselves are as brutal and bruising as hardcore acts come and seem to push harder the more the crowd pushes back creating an explosive set that comes dangerously close to upstaging tonight’s headliners.
The Devil Wears Prada are no slouches in the live arena and tonight is a prime example of just how good they are and how far they have come over the last two or three years.
Kicking things off with Dead Throne from the album of the same name, it seems like the band is on form tonight, and the crowd is ready to join them for the ride.
The bands set is largely and somewhat wisely made of material from the Zombie E.P and last year’s brilliant Dead Throne album, the material from said album sounds even more brilliant in the live arena than it does on record because you can actually see the catharsis and the passion of every note and lyric pour out of the band as they deliver the songs right in front of you.
The sublime vocal interplay between Mike Hranica and Jeremy De Poynster is a thing of beauty in real life and helps to elevate the songs and turn anthems into moments of pure unfiltered emotion. The way the band interacts with each other onstage as well helps to bring everything together as a complete package.
The Devil Wears Prada have always been a good band, of that there is no doubt, but in the last few years the band has taken some serious steps forward in becoming genuine contenders and 2012 could be the year that the band breaks through the glass ceiling and becomes a legitimate heavyweight band within metal.
As long as the band keeps putting in performances like the one seen here tonight then the sky really is the limit for them, for those of you that have let The Devil Wears Prada pass you over then sorry to say but you have missed some truly special.