''ZII'' (or ''Zombie II'') is the third EP by American

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

band The Devil Wears Prada. The EP, a sequel to 2010's ''

Zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

'', was released on May 21, 2021, through

Solid State Records Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle where it is today. History Brandon Ebel and Michael Knott conceived the label as a joint venture, before Knott backe ...

and is the band's first release with bassist Mason Nagy.

Background and promotion

On March 31, 2021, the band released a teaser video titled "Upset the Sickness" via Solid State's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. The EP was officially announced on April 7, along with the track listing and artwork. Lead vocalist Mike Hranica stated that while ''Zombie'' was "about how to fend off the apocalypse," ''ZII'' will be about "hopelessness against the horde." Additionally, ''ZII'' was inspired by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. "Termination" was released as the EP's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

on April 23. "Nightfall" was released as the second single on May 14. A music video was released for "Forlorn" on May 21, the same day as the EP's release. In the lead up to the release, the band hosted a livestream on May 15, 2021, which they called an "Undeadstream", where they performed the EP in full.

Track listing

Personnel

The Devil Wears Prada *Mike Hranica – lead vocals, production *Kyle Sipress – lead guitar, backing vocals, production *Jeremy DePoyster – rhythm guitar, clean vocals, production *Mason Nagy – bass *Jonathan Gering – keyboards, synthesizer, programming, backing vocals, production * Giuseppe Capolupo – drums Production *Josh Barber – engineering, additional guitar tracking *Alex Prieto – mixing *Brendan Collins – mix assistant, digital editing *Kevin McCombs – additional engineering *Mike Kalajian – mastering *Anthony Barlich – photography *Micah and Luke Seedamk – layout and design

Charts

References

{{The Devil Wears Prada The Devil Wears Prada (band) albums 2021 EPs Solid State Records EPs 2020s concept albums Zombies in popular culture Sequel albums