Andy Black’s ‘The Shadow Side’ (TMR 26)
Heavy metal goes tomtits up
Every high school has a place for the outsiders. Maybe it’s under the stairs just inside the side entrance. They wear black clothes and long coats and dye their hair and harm themselves for reasons their own. They’re into alternative religions, they’re on the spectrum, and they stick together because they need a home. They’re future spouses and exes and mothers and fathers and soldiers and teachers and addicts and child beaters and suicide attempters. Metalcore band Black Veil Brides has always been for those, the disaffected and hurting, and while The Shadow Side (Republic Records, 2016), the first solo album from front man Andy Biersack, a.k.a. Andy Black, may be toned down to rock, the rich vocals, hooks and message of hope amidst suffering are still there. This is for the dark half of the Breakfast Club and ultimately the nerd and the other two and everyone else, because sometimes we all need a reassuring voice.
Note: I wrote this for Medium.com. If you are reading this on another platform, it has been pirated. I quit the Medium Partner Program, so I’m not doing this for money. It is nice, however, to know someone’s reading, so please clap or comment to let me know somebody’s out there. Gladius adhuc lucet.
