''The Shadow Side'' is the debut solo album by
Black Veil Brides
Black Veil Brides is an American rock band based in Hollywood, California. The group formed in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently composed of lead vocalist Andy Biersack, rhythm guitarist and violinist Jinxx, lead guitarist Jake Pitts, ...
frontman
Andy Black. It was released on May 6, 2016, on
Lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
and
Republic Records
Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...
.
The album was produced by
John Feldmann
John Feldmann (born June 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He serves as the lead singer/guitarist of the band Goldfinger.
Early life
Feldmann grew up in Saratoga, California. He started writing song ...
and marked a departure of Black's
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
musical style as the frontman of
Black Veil Brides
Black Veil Brides is an American rock band based in Hollywood, California. The group formed in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently composed of lead vocalist Andy Biersack, rhythm guitarist and violinist Jinxx, lead guitarist Jake Pitts, ...
in exchange for more
pop influences. It features guest performances from
Quinn Allman
Quinn Allman (born January 18, 1982) is an American musician and producer, best known as the founding member, guitarist and backing vocalist in the rock band the Used.
Biography
Allman grew up in Springville, Utah, and later moved to Pleasan ...
,
Rian Dawson,
Ashton Irwin
Ashton Fletcher Irwin (born 7 July 1994) is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of the pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer. Since 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer have sold more than 10 million albums, sold over 2 million concert tickets ...
,
Juliet Simms
Juliet Nicole Simms (born February 26, 1986), also known as Lilith Czar, is an American musician, songwriter, and entrepreneur.
She established a fan base as the front woman of the band Automatic Loveletter. In 2007 - in the band's earliest ye ...
,
Matt Skiba, and
Gerard
Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
and
Mikey Way
Michael James Way (born September 10, 1980) is an American musician and actor. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He is also the multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist of rock duo Electric Century.
Mikey c ...
.
Background and production
Black Veil Brides
Black Veil Brides is an American rock band based in Hollywood, California. The group formed in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently composed of lead vocalist Andy Biersack, rhythm guitarist and violinist Jinxx, lead guitarist Jake Pitts, ...
frontman
Andy Biersack
Andrew Dennis Biersack (born December 26, 1990), formerly known as Andy Six, is an American singer. He is the founder and lead vocalist of the rock band Black Veil Brides and is its only remaining original member. In 2014, he started a solo mu ...
debuted his solo pseudonym project under the name Andy Black with the song "They Don't Need to Understand" releasing in May 2014. Black began to record the album in August 2015 alongside producer
John Feldmann
John Feldmann (born June 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He serves as the lead singer/guitarist of the band Goldfinger.
Early life
Feldmann grew up in Saratoga, California. He started writing song ...
.
Throughout the recording process, Black often teased the upcoming album on social media with images of Black alongside well known rock musicians including
Patrick Stump
Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Fall Out Boy, originally from Wilmette, I ...
and
Gerard Way
Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...
.
In an interview with ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'', Black commented on the musical style of the album.
While Black was recording the album, he also intended to record the next Black Veil Brides album, later resulting in writing about 45 songs for the solo project.
Reception
''The Shadow Side'' has received highly favorable reviews from music critics. It holds an average score of 83/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, indicating "universal acclaim".
''
Rock Sound
''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, e ...
'' described the album as being "full of bombastic
alt-pop
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
". ''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' writer Ryan Downey commented that Black "chases his dark muse against a cinematic backdrop of impressive pop 'n' roll on ''The Shadow Side''", also writing that Black sounded "confidently in charge" despite the large number of collaborations with known rock artists on the album.
At the
2017 Alternative Press Music Awards, ''The Shadow Side'' was nominated for "Album of the Year", and lead single "
We Don't Have to Dance" was awarded "Song of the Year".
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from album booklet notes
Musicians
*
Andy Black – primary artist
*
John Feldmann
John Feldmann (born June 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He serves as the lead singer/guitarist of the band Goldfinger.
Early life
Feldmann grew up in Saratoga, California. He started writing song ...
– backing vocals; keyboards (tracks 1–3, 10 and 11); guitar (tracks 1 and 2)
*Zakk Cervini – guitar; keyboards (tracks 1–3, 5–8 and 10–13); bass guitar (tracks 1–4, 9 and 12)
*Matt Pauling – guitar; keyboards (tracks 1, 3, 5–8 and 10–13); bass guitar (tracks 1, 7 and 13)
*
Peter "JR" Wasilewski
Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxop ...
– horn (tracks 1 and 13)
*
Simon Wilcox
Simon Wilcox is a Canadian songwriter based in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the ...
– backing vocals (track 1)
*
Juliet Simms
Juliet Nicole Simms (born February 26, 1986), also known as Lilith Czar, is an American musician, songwriter, and entrepreneur.
She established a fan base as the front woman of the band Automatic Loveletter. In 2007 - in the band's earliest ye ...
– backing vocals (tracks 1, 3, 8 and 13)
*
Ashton Irwin
Ashton Fletcher Irwin (born 7 July 1994) is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of the pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer. Since 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer have sold more than 10 million albums, sold over 2 million concert tickets ...
– drums (tracks 1–4, 6 and 12)
*
Ricky Reed
Eric Burton Frederic (born July 23, 1982), known professionally as Ricky Reed, is an American artist, music producer, singer, songwriter, and founder of Nice Life Recording Company. From 2005 to 2014, Reed was also known as Wallpaper.
Early w ...
– guitar, programming, synthesizer (track 2)
*
Mikey Way
Michael James Way (born September 10, 1980) is an American musician and actor. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He is also the multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist of rock duo Electric Century.
Mikey c ...
– bass guitar (tracks 2 and 11)
*
Quinn Allman
Quinn Allman (born January 18, 1982) is an American musician and producer, best known as the founding member, guitarist and backing vocalist in the rock band the Used.
Biography
Allman grew up in Springville, Utah, and later moved to Pleasan ...
– guitar (tracks 2, 3 and 12); keyboards (track 12)
*
Matt Skiba – guest vocals (track 4)
*
Rian Dawson – drums (tracks 7–9 and 13)
*
Dean Butterworth
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
– drums (track 11)
*
Gerard Way
Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. He released his debut solo album, ''Hesitant Alien'', i ...
– backing vocals (track 11)
Production
*John Feldmann – production, additional mixing
*Ricky Reed – production (track 2)
*Zakk Cervini – mixing, engineering
*Matt Pauling – engineering
*
Manny Marroquin
Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work.
Life and career
M ...
– mixing (track 2)
*Ethan Shumaker – engineering (track 2)
*A&R – Ryan Silva
Charts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow Side, The
2016 debut albums
Andy Biersack albums
Lava Records albums
Republic Records albums
Albums produced by John Feldmann