Black Veil Brides - IV (2014)^{Release ID: 24463}

The hard rock/alt-metal side of Black Veil Brides continues in their 4th album IV. Only this time, they decided to go back to some of the different aspects of Set the World on Fire by restoring a bit of the glam elements and sticking with individual songs instead of a concept album. If not for the more alt-metal direction, this would've been Set the World on Fire 2.0, and I wouldn't want that now, would I?

2014 was when the classic thrash scene was slowly rising back up with new albums by Exodus and Overkill. It was many years before I became interested in the band and alt-metal/metalcore, so I missed out on the hype. Oh, and the album is produced by Bob Rock, known for his work with Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, etc.

"Heart of Fire" is a great start with riffing and soloing that's both heavy and catchy. Level it up further is the amazing "Faithless", one of the best songs by the band. "Devil in the Mirror" is where the weak side of the album starts coming in, not really impressing me much. "Goodbye Agony" is a depressive power ballad that I love. It can be considered the "Lost It All" of this album!

"World of Sacrifice" has more of the earlier heavy greatness. "Last Rites" just has the generic glam of Set the World on Fire. "Stolen Omen" is much less interesting, and not even the metalcore growling can help this sh*tter.

"Walk Away" is another amazing ballad. I love the soloing, and many sections make great use of the 6-minute runtime. "Drag Me to the Grave" is a huge disappointment, perhaps the worst song the band has ever done. Not even Set the World on Fire has stooped that f***ing low! "The Shattered God" has more decent heaviness. Same with "Crown of Thorns", though not really the best ending track. I would rate this album a star higher if the killer bonus track "Sons of Night" was part of the standard album.

IV is pretty decent, but their attempt at mixing the sounds of Set the World on Fire and Wretched and Divine has resulted in an album in which almost all the greatness is in the first half. If we could replace "Devil in the Mirror" with "Sons of Night" and remove everything after track 5 except "Walk Away", this would've been a kick-A EP right there....

Favorites (only songs I really enjoy):  "Heart of Fire", "Faithless", "Goodbye Agony", "World of Sacrifice", "Walk Away", "Sons of Night"