By KEVIN TAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

METALHEADS in Malaysia have been treated to some awesome musical acts recently, such as Underoath, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, Architects and Memphis May Fire, who’ve all performed in South East Asia over the past couple of years. Now, fans can add American metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada to that impressive list.

The five-man band put on a show at KL Live earlier this month and boy did they not disappoint. Fans came in droves just to see vocalist Mike Hranica, lead guitarist Chris Rubey, rhythm guitarist Jeremy DePoyster, bassist Andy Trick and drummer Daniel Williams live in action.

Rhythm guitarist Jeremy DePoyster said that the crowd at their recent performance in KL was simply amazing.

Formed in 2005 in Ohio, United States, The Devil Wears Prada – yes, they decided to name their band after Lauren Weisberger’s novel of the same name – have released five full-length albums and are currently on tour to promote their latest album 8:18.

Although the band has a steady fanbase since the beginning of their career, they are still surprised at how well their music is received around the world.

“There was never a point where we made a huge jump in popularity. It was more like ‘Woah, this is really cool! Let’s do it.’ And then there’s something bigger that would happen to us, and we’d do that too. And then something new would happen. We’re just continuously growing,” said Rubey during an interview with R.AGE before the concert kicked off.

And they definitely felt love from 1,500 fans who turned up and brought the house down, prompting Poyster to post a picture, on his official Instagram account (@jedpoyster), of the concertgoers with the caption: “KL, you were too amazing. Last night was one of the best feelings we’ve ever had on stage! Malaysia knows what’s up!”

Vocalist Mike Hranica has also written a book about his faith and his music called One & a Half Hearts.

The band got on stage after opening acts Oh Chentaku, The Padangs and Massacre Conspiracy set the mood for the night and were surprisingly fast with their setup and sound check, which quickly led to their introduction song – Gloom from 8:18.

Hranica, decked in a Pittsburg Penguin hockey jersey with his name printed on the back, had splendid showmanship, displaying passion and sincerity in every lyric he yelled.

However, it wasn’t enough to mask a slight lack of stamina and vocal strength.

Even while performing the first song of the night, he was already out of breath and didn’t complete his vocal parts andsometimes just muttered the lyrics. Fortunately for him, the crowd didn’t seem to care.

The band played a whole bunch of songs from the latest album, as well as singles off their previous record, Dead Throne.

They also included two song from the Zombie EP.

DePoyster says that all the members of the band are fans of TV sitcom The Office. They even have a song called Assistant To The Regional Manager.

During the interview, Williams noted that their band’s success came after their second album Plagues and said, “That was when we realised that we don’t have to do what all our favourite bands did; we can (have our own style) and still succeed in the metal world.”

Well one of their secrets to success has to be their beautiful showmanship.

Their performance was full off energy throughout the show despite some minor technical difficulties which unfortunately affected Rubey’s guitar tone – but of course, the fans didn’t mind as they kept the mosh pit alive.

There was no doubt the band and crowd fed off each other’s energy that night.

They topped it off by ending with an encore of awesome hits such as Mammoth, Hey John, What’s Your Name Again? and Dead Throne.