Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
A story of two parts, two halves, a fearsome volcano that boils under the surface of the Earth awaiting the time to erupt and yet in which understands that patience is the key to have maximum effect on the landscape below. That green valley, the farmed dale, the perfect idyll in which lover’s court and nature is silent and prosperous; all taken out in the act of constant planetary renewal, the veil lifted and the bride to be kissed before enjoying the sound of Black Veil Brides.
In the band’s fifth studio album, Vale, Andy Biersack, Ashley Purdy, Jinxx, Christian Coma and Jake Pitts bring together the sound that many had long thought could be theirs, the next step in the evolution of the band, a salute to progress and the two fingers up to the valley of the dolls beneath them. Black Veil Brides have come up with an album that is testimony to the climb and the continued push towards positive acceptance outside of the perceived genre.
The tracks Wake Up, When They Call My Name, Dead Man Walking (Overture II), Our Destiny and Ballad of the Lonely Hearts really stand out and make the album flow in a way that might have been less obvious if not as readily accessible as these particular tracks make it. Like a road pointing to the most desired place on the map, occasionally it is more illuminating to see the long way round the hill if it means seeing a monument or national interest memorial, rather than bulldozing right through the middle, even if it saves time.
Black Veil Brides lead in this respect, Vale doesn’t gorge but politely lays down its own stamp, it finds its own place to sit comfortably in its genre and allows the listener to reflect in the music provided. A great beat, the mixture of homely Ohio sentiment but wrapped in the underneath of the Hollywoood sign; not forgotten, not out of sight, but waiting patiently, a symbol for the wreckage of prosecution and the labelling of the damned fuelled by toxins and fluff that they inject their souls with. In this sign of the Vale Black Veil Brides are ready to make the fluff and inconsequential suffer.
Ian D. Hall