BLACK VEIL BRIDES – Brisbane, Australia 6th July 2022

With the past two years thankfully behind us, we find ourselves in Eaton’s Hill Hotel with a big crowd watching the rescheduled performance by Black Veil Brides. The Hollywood glam metallers have attracted a (largely young) generation of fans by adding metalcore, gothic rock, punk pop and emo elements to the genre.

Firstly, it’s young band Days Like These, an alt-metal power trio that, while completely distinctive from the headliners, also chop and change genres to suit the mood of the individual song. Hence their set is eclectic yet amiably intense and uplifting, from the summery groove of Luna to a fearsome cover of Pierce The Veil’s King For A Day.

Their songs could appeal to BVB fans on one hand and BTS fans on the other. That should be a diss in a metal review but it isn’t, simply a reflection of the group’s variety and sense of sonic adventure.

Black Veil Brides enter the stage to a thunderous reception, the group responding in kind by amping us up, drummer Christian “CC” Coma standing on his kit with his fists raised in the air before the band has played a note. And then, BAM, we’re straight into riff monster Faithless, it’s doomy intro quickly giving way to CC’s furious double-kicks and, as always, the charismatic power of frontman Andy Biersack commanding the room’s attention as it does throughout the night.

But the whole band is also firing on all cylinders, the dual guitars of Jake Pitts and Jinxx providing some old-school metal melodicism. In their early days, they looked like Kiss refracted through an emo filter. Now, they are a still-styled but visually pared-back group of black-clad rock and rollers.

It suits the various musical shifts their songs undergo, bratty emo pop-punk one minute, crushing metalcore breakdowns the next. Biersack obliges as master of ceremonies, veering effortlessly between soaring pop vocals and a bellowing harsh voice for the heavier moments.

It is the abundance of uplifting and hook-laden choruses that really get the crowd excited, as BVB charge through the insanely catchy Rebel Love Song, a wonderfully brutal Knives & Pens, an anthemic Fallen Angels and, in the demanded encore, a roof-raising version of fan favourite In The End, sending us into the night with a song in our heart. Happy goths, anyone?

Reviewer: Matt Thrower

Photographer: Davey Rintala @fastlanephoto