Recording

The album was recorded at the Pulse Recording Studio in Los Angeles, CA over a period of several months, and was roughly finished in the Spring of 2011 under the supervision of Josh Abraham

Josh Abraham

Josh Abraham is a Grammy-winning record producer and co-owner of Pulse Management and Check Your Pulse Publishing. He has produced songs and albums for many of the industry's most successful artists such as Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson and Courtney Love...

 (Linkin Park

Linkin Park

Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...

, Velvet Revolver

Velvet Revolver

Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...

, 30 Seconds to Mars

30 Seconds to Mars

30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...

, Korn

Korn

Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...

, etc). The Demo CDs were labeled Black Veil Brides Greatest Hits by Biersack, due to the fact that they had grown both lyrically and musically. After recording had wrapped up, it was revealed their main influence was Def Leppard's Hysteria, in the way the album was recorded and produced.

Reception

The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album reached #73 on the Canadian Albums Chart

Canadian Albums Chart

The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

. It also achieved moderate success in the United Kingdom by reaching number 3 in the UK Rock Chart.

Critical reaction to the album was mixed. Several reviewers were positive about the album with Todd Jolicouer of The Rock Pit saying, "The vocals are perfectly balanced with the guitar solos", and "This disc is light years ahead of their debut". Jen Thomas of Rock Sound

Rock Sound

Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts.-History:...

had a mixed opinion of the album. He expresses this when he says "The sound no longer matches the carefully-created image but the music's decent none the less". Other reviewers had a very negative attitude towards the album with Ryan Cooper from About.com

About.com

About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....

saying "the band seem to have dropped the few things that made them interesting, instead becoming a metal clone in freaky clothing, with a singer that's utterly uninteresting".

Personnel

Black Veil Brides

• Andy Biersack – lead vocals
• Ashley Purdy – bass, backing vocals
• Jake Pitts – lead guitar
• Jinxx – guitar, violin
• Christian "CC" Coma – drums

Production

• Josh Abraham – producer
• Christopher Walken – producer
• Captain Price – engineering, mixing
• Eddie Shreyer – mastering
• Songs written by Andy Biersack, Ashley Purdy, Jake Pitts, Josh Brown, and Luke Jacobson