Elsewhere, there’s a cameo from Machine Head’s Robb Flynn, on the brawling Revenger. From an artistic perspective, Andy finds the idea of such things “for the sake of numbers to be pretty hollow”, even if he gets the maths on it. But in this case, there’s a deeper connection.
“Robb was one of the first people in a respected metal band to go, ‘Hey, this band’s fucking awesome, and you guys are wrong about them,’” says Andy. “That was really revelatory for us, because all of a sudden we started getting kind of shit on in the U.S. press, and Robb would come out and go, ‘Hey, this band’s really fucking great. You should listen. Their guitar players are insane. You’re wrong about this.’ He was the first person with that kind of respect in the metal world to talk about us like that.”
This has actually, finally, gone somewhere, as well, as Andy notes that, “For better, for worse, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the ‘metal community’ over the years. But the acceptance of the metal community, particularly on this record, has been really cool.”
Within their own community, 15 years in, Black Veil Brides have become a cult thing of their own. What brushes with the mainstream there have been, Andy says have been cool and good, but he draws comparison – somewhat unexpectedly – to Insane Clown Posse, in that his band’s fanbase have their own foundations, rather than being in a wider pool.
“It’s really been a grassroots thing. The band has stayed afloat and grown in size and scale because of a sincere connection with the audience and people who have propped us up and allowed us these opportunities time and time again.
“I know every band says that, but the difference is that most bands, if you search their name on the internet, you don’t tend to find people whose entire life is about hating this band more than anything in the world.”