For Andy Biersack, revenge is second nature. As the frontman of heavy metal outfit Black Veil Brides, Biersack utilizes this perpetual desire for vengeance as a means of self-improvement and the ultimate form of retaliation against those who have ever spoken out against the band’s searing artistry.
Since their formation nearly two decades ago, Black Veil Brides have remained one of rock’s most divisive bands, making their ferocious dedication to personal resolution only a natural cause and effect. Panned by critics and dismissed by the rock community when they first got their start alongside other famed Warped Tour acts years ago, Black Veil Brides see every kick as a boost to further glory, and twenty years later, they still don’t seem to have a taste for conformity.
This adamant retribution is the overarching theme of Black Veil Brides’ seventh full-length record VINDICATE, released May 8. Across 14 tracks, the band brings their visceral songwriting to new poetic heights, exploring the concept of vindication as something that can be both self-fulfilling and obsessive.
To coincide with the record’s aggressive thematic nature, the band also shares what can be considered their heaviest body of work yet, using their signature blend of cinematic delivery and melodic rage to craft the perfect sonic identity for the album’s equally hard-hitting conceptual elements.
Ahead of the album’s release, Black Veil Brides kicked off a headline tour throughout North America, currently making their way across the continent with support from TX2, As December Falls, and From Ashes To New. The band also recently announced a return to the U.S. later this year, set to hit select cities with Caskets, Archers, Holy Wars, and Autumn Kings as support.
With this current run marking the band’s first full-scale headline tour in a couple of years, Biersack says they’re eager to get back on the road after dedicating these last few years to making the record.
“We’ve just been doing little short runs here and there. So it’s really exciting to get to play that long headline setlist every night and do a lot of old songs and a lot of new songs,” Biersack tells Melodic Magazine ahead of the release of VINDICATE. “Really, I would say the most exciting part of it is just seeing the growth. Playing venues that we’ve played over the years and even during our first main wave of popularity, having more people at those venues, selling more tickets, and having more excitement than we’ve maybe ever had is really, really cool and not something that I take for granted. It’s a pretty humbling thing to experience this many years into your career.”
Looking back on the evolution of their live presence, Biersack says the band is performing better than ever before after years of playing together. “Plus, we’re not all drunk all the time. So that’s a big help,” Biersack quips. “Pretty much everybody in the band, and certainly when we go on stage, there’s no drinking at all. And so you’d be amazed how much better you can be as a live band if you’re not completely blacked out every night on stage. Also just us as people, we’re happier. We enjoy being on the road together. We have a good relationship and friendship as a band. So I think that translates well to the stage. We really get along. I never take that for granted because I know with a lot of bands, that’s not the case.”
Following their North American run, the band will make their way across Europe and the U.K., making several festival appearances before returning to the U.S. this August. Slated to appear at some of rock’s biggest festivals, including Rock im Park, Rock am Ring, Hellfest, and more, Biersack says it’s both exciting and rewarding to play on the stages that the band now considers second homes.
“I’m just excited to go back to Europe,” he says. “It’s been a couple of years for us. But Download [Festival] in the U.K. was one of the big watershed moments for us in our career and really marked the beginning of our relationship with the U.K. audience, which ended up being one of our biggest demographics or markets in the world. We were very lucky that we got some really cool spots early on in my career at Download in Donington Park, so that’s always kind of a bit of a homecoming for us.”
Returning to such monumental stomping grounds like Download Festival is truly a full-circle moment for the band, and the release of VINDICATE is the cherry on top of a self-reflective era of Black Veil Brides’ career. “This is now the point at which the record no longer is mine and becomes yours,” Biersack says of the album’s release. “So I always like this moment. I like when it becomes a thing that’s out in the world, and it’s no longer something that I’m obsessing over or working on or listening to mixes or whatever else now. It’s out there, and we’re already writing for the next one. So we’ll begin the process all again.”
For many artists, the next step after such a monumental release would be to bask in the radiance of the album’s imminent send-off, taking a few moments to relax rather than immediately getting started on the next record. “Those people are the ones that don’t get to stick around for 20 years,” Biersack says. “You’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities. If we’re lucky enough for people to care and give us budgets to make records, then it’s our responsibility to do so.”
Black Veil Brides exceed all expectations for listeners on VINDICATE. Previewed by numerous singles, including “Certainty,” “Hallelujah,” and “Revenger,” the album cemented itself very early on as unrelenting in its musical brutality. However, it’s the record’s final single, “Cut,” that adds a light to the album’s mystifying darkness.
“Cut” notably features Lilith Czar, hard rock trailblazer and wife of Biersack, also known as the alt-rock singer-songwriter Juliet Simms. While it’s only the second Black Veil Brides track to feature Czar — following her guest vocals on “Lost It All” from 2013’s Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones — Biersack says her impact on his artistry is always present, with Czar providing backup vocals on nearly every one of the band’s albums since 2013.
“Even just in our marriage, our life is so much about music,” he says. “We bounce every idea off each other. We’re constantly working together. I think for somebody else, because they’re not necessarily living in our home with us, it might seem more foreign in the idea. But to me, it’s just the most natural thing in the world. Every idea I have, I run by her first. She’s my person in the world.”
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