Dayton, Ohio Christian metalcore band THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA has begun work on the material for its next studio album, tentatively due before the end of the year.

In a brand new interview with AOL's Noisecreep, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA singer Mike Hranica said: "Two weeks ago we all flew out here to Portland, Oregon and we started our writing process for the next album. Chris [Rubey], our guitar player, lives out here so the rest of us came out and we rented a condo and have been diligently cranking out a lot of new tunes. It's a really great region for us to hang out in because it's a less stressful city, than, say, Chicago, but there's still good food and all that good stuff and not too many distractions. I will say we've been getting an amazing amount of stuff done here. I can't remember us ever being this productive and a lot of really good ideas are just flowing which is exactly what you want."

Asked about the direction of the new material, Mike said: "Chris is the one that usually comes up with the riffs and some of the things he's got going right now are absolutely relentless. Since James [Baney, keyboards] left the band, I have to say right now I'm very excited about how the keyboards are sounding — very dark and very intense. Vocally, I learned a lot working on the last record and I can tell you that I'm going further down the road as far as the misery and sadness of the lyrics. This will be darker than 'Dead Throne', for sure."

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA's latest album, "Dead Throne", sold 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 10 on The Billboard 200 chart. The follow-up to 2009's critically acclaimed "With Roots Above and Branches Below" was recorded at Zing Studios in Massachusetts with producer Adam Dutkiewicz (KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, TIMES OF GRACE). Additional synth/key production was handled by Joey Sturgis (who has worked on all of the THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA records so far) with further assistance on the vocal production by Jeremy McKinnon (A DAY TO REMEMBER).

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA released a live CD/DVD, "Dead & Alive", on June 26, 2012 via Ferret Music.

"Dead & Alive" was filmed and recorded in 2011 during THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA's hugely successful "Dead Throne Tour: North America" tour.