THE PHANTOM ZONE

BLACK VEIL BRIDES, the fashionable metalcore outfit from Hollywood, California, has been taking it on the chin since the group made its mainstream splash in 2010 with its debut album, We Stitch These Wounds. Guitar World has been actively championing Black Veil Brides since the group’s early days, and has had numerous discussions with guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx throughout the years about the band’s polarizing nature. In a 2013 Guitar World interview, Jinxx commented: “Nikki Sixx is a friend of ours. And he told us, ‘You guys get a lot of love, you get a lot of hate. But you know what? Mötley Crüe got the same hate back in the day. You’re going through exactly what we went through when we did Shout at the Devil. So just keep doing what you’re doing.’ ”

Give Black Veil Brides credit for doing exactly that: staying committed to their craft and true to their mission (and loyal to their hair products and makeup brands) despite often serving as a hard rock punching bag. As evidenced by the runaway success of “Scarlet Cross,” the rousing first single from the band’s newest album, The Phantom Tomorrow, BVB is enjoying the combination of validation and success that only comes with dedication and perseverance.

“It’s so hard to tell right now because we’re all still kind of in our own bubbles because of the pandemic, but sometimes I wonder if the band is actually getting bigger through all of this,” says Pitts. “The fact that so many people are getting to hear ‘Scarlet Cross’ and so many new people are discovering the band is really an amazing thing. It’s almost hard to believe that after