Album Reviews: Black Veil Brides, Black Veil Brides

Like Dave Grohl, I don't believe in "guilty pleasures." If you like something, listen to it. For example, I've been listening to a lot of Iggy Azalea's "Black Widow" lately. (I know, people who listen to pop should be consigned to a hell of Hank Williams playing on constant loop.)

So when I say I like Black Veil Brides, a lot of so-called "music purists" are probably freaking out, because BVB are, unfortunately, a band that gets a lot of hate. There are several reasons for this.

One is that back in the early days, the band had a penchant for dressing like eighties hair metal icons. And apparently, people are still threatened by the idea of a guy in tight pants and eyeliner.

Another reason is the fangirls. Judas on a jackrabbit, the fangirls. Just scroll through the YouTube comments on any BVB video. It's a minefield of terrible grammar and exclamations on how hot various band members are, or what color their fingernails are painted, or what their favorite day of the week is.

Guess what, folks - welcome to EVERY BAND EVER.You can find the same comments on HIM videos. And Halestorm videos. And Alice in Chains videos. And in case all you music "connoisseurs" out there don't remember, this is what a Beatles concert looked like:

Look familiar? Now, I'm not bagging on any die-hard fans. When I was in high school, I loved Green Day so much that my parents wanted to lock me under the stairs like bloody Harry Potter so they'd never have to hear three-chord punk again. The people that bother me are the ones who care more about what BVB lead singer Andy Biersack's hair looks like than what he's singing.

Which is a shame, because they are a good band. And their latest self-titled effort only proves that.

I remember when Black Veil Brides first started making music. They were your standard melodic metalcore band, nothing special, kind of a dime-a-dozen. Then they got an all-new lineup, ditched the metalcore screams and sluggish guitars for clean-yet-rough vocals and dueling solos, and they became something else. Around the time of their sophomore effort, 2011's Set the World on Fire, they really hit their stride.

The latest album starts off a little wobbily with the generic anthem "Heart of Fire." Biersack's voice sounds more strained and less natural than it does on the rest of the album.  Luckily, it gets better from there.

You can see them going back to their stadium-rock influences, particularly on such songs as "Walk Away," which includes synth, echoing arena guitars, and backing chorus. It feels like a reinterpretation of that era, and I'm kind of intrigued by it, though I don't think it sounds as genuine as the intricate guitar textures of "Goodbye Agony."

There is plenty of metal to be had throughout the rest of the record ("Faithless" and "Last Rites"). The tempo moves up to thrash in "The Shattered God," and that's the thing about Black Veil Brides. Glam rock, thrash metal, and punk come together well, primarily because of the musical talent involved. You can't mix styles without technical proficiency, and like predecessors Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, these guys have it in spades.

Stream the full album here.

Best tracks: "Goodbye Agony," "The Shattered God," "Crown of Thorns," "Last Rites"