Does the return of Black Veil Brides not feel…inconsequential to anyone else? Truth be told, that’s been the mood around this band for years now. Forget trying to claw themselves back to prior relevance after a few fallow years; they’ve never produced a scene-shaking impact since Wretched And Divine back in 2013. Back then, they had the promise of superstardom given to them on a silver platter, and just as soon as they’d begun to dig in, it was unceremoniously yanked away again.
And to an extent, it’s understandable. With their constant reinventions and love of a good lore-dump, Black Veil Brides are frankly blessed already to have made it past the early 2010s. That was the era when you could really parade that around as a selling point, and where Black Veil Brides—caked in eyeliner and ready to field volleys of scorn from ‘real’ metal fans—captured such a tangible zeitgeist. A prettyboy frontman trotting out 2010’s palatable emo ideals while looking just dangerous enough to count is what saw Knives And Pens explode for them, and even in the swing closer to hair-metal that would follow, Black Veil Brides bridged that gap more solidly than most are likely to admit. Even over a decade later, Set The World On Fire is still a solid album.
But if you fast forward to now and look around at the same world, none of that stuff really flies anymore. Sure, said emo ideals remain sketched with the broadness of a barn door, but the specific flavour of execution espoused by Black Veil Brides is well past its prime. If a decade’s worth of flaccid albums and waning interest outside of Andy Biersack’s solo ventures are anything to go by, it’s been that way for some time. In a way, then, Bleeders barely feels as though it matters. Despite having ostensibly the biggest push of a Black Veil Brides release in years (though still the equivalent to a light tap on the shoulder compared to their heyday), is this really where the fire is rekindled? Every bit of evidence would suggest it’s not, even remotely.
Therefore, this might take the form of something other than a ‘traditional’ review. Part of that is due to just how little raw material Bleeders has to offer—a new song, a cover of U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, and a rendition of My Friends from Sweeney Todd. Moreover, what comes around the music arguably feels more interesting to talk about. This is the supposed jumpstart for a bold new era of Black Veil Brides, and yet they still feel about a million miles away from where they were, if that’s the intended goal again. You don’t just get back to a place like that on good intentions alone, especially when attaching them to such a meagre package that, really, has just a single song’s worth of evidence for anything of the sort. As a track, Bleeders is…fine, but it’s far from outside the realms of typical Black Veil Brides lead-off fare. Maybe it’s a little heavier than usual, leveraging the needle’s current position when it comes to what radio-rock deems acceptable in tone and texture, but it wouldn’t exactly be an inappropriate offering for any other point of attempted rebirth over the last few cycles.
It’s the downside of the ‘go big or go home’ mentality that Black Veil Brides have always had, and have seldom lately seen consistent success from. Except this time, with a big, new era being teased out in this way—and arguably anticipating an even greater shake-up—the creaks are only amplified. You can tell how big a deal this is meant to be; a new fandom name has even been pushed from here on out, going from the BVB Army to ‘bleeders’ (which, given the emo presentation of Black Veil Brides’ fans in early years, and how those connotations have stuck around, is a very unfortunate name to bestow). But as release, Bleeders just feels hollow. What is there to get overly excited about in one new song, especially one that’s supposed to herald the beginning of a bold, rejuvenated era? Furthermore, when that new song is only okay in itself, is there any reason, at all?
What makes it even less impactful is how the Sunday Bloody Sunday is arguably better. It’s a bit brighter in a way that’s often produced some sleeper smashes for Black Veil Brides (see a song like Ritual), and Biersack—the acquired taste of a vocalist that he is—can really sell and recontextualise one of U2’s bleaker songs with some gusto. Though, again, it’s perhaps not something an entire era is predicated on for that very reason. It amounts to the B-side it effectively is, a low-stakes take on a favourite song destined to be placed in the vault and never uncovered by anyone but the most dedicated anoraks. The same goes for My Friends; compositionally, the acoustic plucks and strings are the most distinctive on this EP, but it’s also a song lifted from a musical (and by extension, the context that makes it work at all) to serve as a bookend to an already truncated package. Again, you’re looking to fire off a grand new start after years of effective flops—how does this do any of that?
It’s a point that really does loom over Bleeders, almost to where the EP is entirely stood in its shadow and unable to escape. Had this been more developed and willing to show more extensively where Black Veil Brides are after years of nothingness, they probably would’ve had a better shot. As it stands, though, Bleeders smacks of a band not confident in their abilities to do that anymore. It’s a sad reality, especially when Black Veil Brides were so dominant once upon a time, but it’s an easy conclusion to come to after hearing something like this. The unfortunate part is how none of this is that bad; it’s just too noncommittal to Black Veil Brides’ vision of grandeur to call it a success by any metric.
For fans of: Black Veil Brides (definitely), U2 (maybe), Sweeney Todd (probably)
‘Bleeders’ by Black Veil Brides is released on 21st June on Spinefarm Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
