‘Vindicate’ Is A Solid New Offering From BLACK VEIL BRIDES

By: Philip Sayblack | Phil's Picks

Early this month, Black Veil Brides released its latest album, Vindicate, through its current label home, Spinefarm Records.  The band’s seventh album and 13th overall studio recording (counting its EPs), it is a solid new offering from the band that will appeal equally to the band’s established audiences and more casual listeners alike.  Its singles (which make up nearly 50% of the album’s body) have already made that clear.  There are, thankfully, other tracks to examine that exhibit the album’s strength, not the least of which being ‘Alive.’  ‘Sorrow,’ another later entry in the 45-minute record, is another notable addition to the record.  ‘Woe & Pain’ and its “partner song,” ‘Eschaton,’ the album’s closer, are collectively yet one more example of how much the album has to offer.  When they are considered alongside the other songs noted here and that group with the album’s singles and the rest of the entries, the whole therein makes Vindicate a powerful, memorable new offering from Black Veil Brides.
Vindicate, the latest full-length studio recording from Black Veil Brides, isa a solid new offering from the veteran hard rock act that will appeal to a wide range of listeners.  This is proven easily through the record’s musical and lyrical content alike, as its mass of singles has already shown – five in all.  There are other tracks featured in this record that serve to show in their own way, just how much the album has to offer, not the leas of which being ‘Alive.’  The musical arrangement featured in this song is a hard hitting composition that continues to show Black Veil Brides’ musical evolution.  The intensity of front man Andy Biersack’s growls against his clean vocals and the equally powerful guitar line makes for a notable impact in itself.  The addition of the bass line and drums puts the finishing touch to the whole, especially in the song’s breakdown.  The whole is a work that is easily comparable to more recent works from Wage War among others.  That is meant in a purely observational manner.
The intensity of the song’s musical arrangement works well with the song’s lyrical theme which comes across as being that familiar commentary about the hypocrisy of the religious institution and those who call themselves such devout Christians.  This is inferred as Biersack sings, “Bless your heart/Your perfect lies/Your truth that hides/Behind a false disguise/Preaching love/While you sharpen the blade/You sip the wine/Break the bread/Tear the flesh/From the living dead/But hey/At least you’re having fun/While the rest of us choke on the end of your gun/I’m alive and free/Of your misery/You try to destroy me/But you know you’re not holy/I’m alive/I bleed your tragedy/Fear can be deadly/But you will not break me.”  That mention of “preaching love/While you sharpen the blade” is pretty clear even in its metaphorical language.  People who preach love are the same ones pushing violence.  Just look at the white nationalist movement happening across America to this day as a result of the convicted felon in the White House.  Those people are exactly that this is discussing.  When Biersack states in the end of this section that, “Fear can be deadly/But you will not break me” comes across as that defiant stand against religion’s hypocrisy and that of those who claim to be so Christian.  They try to use fear to “bring people to Christ” but he is  saying they will not succeed in those efforts.
The song continues in similar fashion, with Biersack going so far as to say at one point, “Swinging your cross/While you kill for sport/Built your castle on spite and shame/But every grave you dig/bears your name.”  This is pretty blatant.  People who claim to be so Christian and Godly are the same ones, again, committing such acts of violence.  We see it daily on the news.  Between this and everything else noted, the message here certainly seems clear.  The energy in the message’s delivery, coupled with the energy in the song’s musical delivery makes the song in whole its own powerful addition to the album.
Another notable song not yet used as a single from this record comes in the form of ‘Sorrow.’  In regard to its musical body, ‘Sorrow’ takes audiences back to BVB’s more melodic hard rock leanings.  This even with the heavy guitar riffs.  Those riffs, the heaviness from the rhythm section, and the keyboards makes this song’s composition easily comparable to works from the likes of The Veer Union.  Interestingly enough, the breakdown here is a pure metalcore style presentation that makes for a unique juxtaposition to that more melodic hard rock approach taken through the majority of the song. 
The lyrical content that accompanies this song makes for its own interest.  On the one hand, one could argue that it is that familiar theme of a person battling a mental health struggles.  On the other hand, it also comes across as a song seemingly about the all too familiar theme of lost love.  Both topics can be inferred as Biersack sings, “My sorrow/I am the enemy/Now looking back/I know I let you down/And everything inside me/Heard it screaming out/I never told you how it felt/The devil seemed to have me figured out/Won’t let go/I fall down/I let you go/I’m broken/Sink into my sorrow/I become my own shadow/I guess I know/Now, what I am/I guess I know what I am/I am the enemy.”  Even in this self loathing, he adds in, “I won’t let it win.”  This is that determination to not just give up despite whatever has happened. To not let that depression win.  The song’s third and fourth verses continue in similar fashion as the first two verses as the subject battles the guilt and depression of the past.  At the same time, that reminder is there that he will not give up.  It is a powerful presentation that regardless of the theme, is clearly familiar one way or another.  It is also clearly fully accessible.  All things considered, the emotion in these words and in the song’s musical arrangement make the overall song another clear example of the album’s overall positive presentation.
Yet one more example of how much the album has to offer audiences comes in the form of the dual presentation of ‘Woe & Pain’/’Eschaton.’  ‘Woe & Pain’ is its own interesting work what with the juxtaposition of the band’s more familiar melodic hard rock lean alongside the more metalcore lean that has become more prominent this time out in this record.  At the same time, Biersack even does some light “rapping” in the song’s second verse.  On another note, the machine gun-fast bass drum in the song’s breakdown alongside the guitars and strings makes for such a powerful moment.
In the case of ‘Eschaton,’ its musical arrangement picks up where ‘Woe & Pain’ leaves off, opening with a somewhat mournful arrangement delivered dually by a piano and cello.  The melancholy mood established there continues through to the end of the brief composition.  It is a truly moving moment alongside the composition featured in ‘Woe & Pain,’ this especially as Biersack sings in the finale, “Life is never won/Just keep fighting on.”  He is saying that the best one can do is to just keep going, keep going one day at a time.  That is because there is no true winning.  There is no true vindication from anything because “vindication only works out when you’re dead/It’s no way to live.”  He is not wrong, either.  As much as we may want to be vindicated from everything we go through in life, as much as we may want to be proven right so that we can live life, it will never happen.  It is a little bit of a nihilistic viewpoint, but it is an honest argument that holds water. 
As is stated metaphorically in ‘Woe & Pain,’ no matter how much we may think that things will get better to the point of some clarity and calm in life, the negative will always show its face.  The thing is that we can and will get through it but it will always be there, so the best thing to do (as is stated in ‘Eschaton’) is to just go one day at a time because there is no winning life.  Winning means winning daily, not overall.  That is a powerful epiphany and one that many people need.  To that end, the lyrical theme of these last two songs, which are essentially one whole, make for a fitting finale to this record and one more pure example of how much Vindicate has to offer audiences.  When the overall presentation here is considered alongside the other songs examined here, and that collective along with the album’s singles and the rest of its entries, the whole therein leaves Vindicate in whole yet one more welcome addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums.  Additionally it makes Vindicate one more solid offering from Black Veil Brides from beginning to end.
Vindicate, the latest full-length studio recording from Black Veil Brides, is a presentation that audiences established and otherwise will appreciate.  That is proven through its musical and lyrical content, as its singles have shown.  The songs examined here prove that just as much.  When that whole is considered along with the rest of the album’s entries, the whole makes Vindicate a solid new offering from Black Veil Brides that is also among the best of this year’s new hard rock and metal albums.
Vindicate is available now.  More information on the album is available along with all of Black Veil Brides’ latest news at:
Website: https://blackveilbrides.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blackveilbrides
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blackveilbrides

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