In an era when rock music is regularly declared “dead,” Black Veil Brides music videos have been viewed over a half a billion times. The band (and its members) Instagram and Twitter accounts command close to 10 million followers between them. Vale, the group’s most recent full-length album, went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart. After five cherished records (four of which entered the Top 20 at home and abroad), BVB remain a step ahead, refashioning the release cycle to better reflect a boundless creativity and the more immediate needs of the allies and supporters who download, stream, and still covet the holy grail of physical media. Together with their new partners at Sumerian, Black Veil Brides usher in a bold new chapter with “Saints of the Blood” and “The Vengeance,” two unrestrained singalongs harnessing the strength of beloved anthems like “In the End,” “Heart of Fire,” and “Coffin,” with a reinvigorated bloodlust and nerve. The band’s strident opposition to conformity, false authority, and obstacles (from both within and without) strikes a chord with every outcast who ever felt drawn to the allure of the dark. It’s evident in the 150 million views accumulated by “Knives and Pens,” an early demo committed to video before singer Andy had found his band of brothers. The RIAA-certified gold single “In the End,” which itself boasts 125 million YouTube views, is proof that the group whose merchandise dominated Hot Topic stores before they’d dropped their debut album was no passing fad or ill-fated “scene”. This was built to last. Andy Biersack, named one of the 100 Greatest Living Rock Stars by Revolver, reignites the creative passions long churning within the heart of the band. Golden Gods Best Guitarist award winners Jake Pitts (who produced the new songs, after coproducing previous outings) and Jinxx (a classically trained violinist); APMAS Best Drummer award winner Christian Coma; and bassist Lonny Eagleton (most recently seen onstage with Biersack as part of the singer’s Andy Black vehicle) sound confident and determined, burning blast furnace intensity into what are undeniably Black Veil Brides identity solidifying songs. With a rightful reverence for the pop cultural icons of the past, the young outfit has nevertheless fashioned their own collective future, with relentless fury. In the hearts and minds of their fans, Black Veil Brides represents an unwillingness to compromise and a resistance to critics (personal and professional), fueled by the same fire as the group’s own heroes, the iconoclasts whose creative output, once dismissed, is now canonized.
