Black Veil Brides' Wretched and Divine and why I think it's great

In The End

Okay, before anyone says anything, I know I am about 5 years and an emo phase late to the discussion, but I really like this album and I don't really have any other hobbies so I'll write this blog post anyways.

Before I start this in-depth discussion, I feel like I should disclose a couple of things:

First off I have only been a Black Veil Brides fan for about three months now. I discovered them on one of my little detours into the dark sides of YouTube when I finally decided to listen to that one real song that kept getting recommended to me, after listening to an excruciating amount of bad emo-youtuber-music (which means approximately 1 ½ songs). Said song was Andy solo "We don't have to dance" and I immediately fell in love with his voice. After checking out some of the Band's work my fable for theatricality kicked it and I was hooked.

I have by now listened to all of their albums multiple times and Wretched and Divine has established itself as my favourite one, probably because I am a sucker for concept albums.

Now seeing as I only have a couple of months of fan experience and only a limited patience when it comes to catching up on fandoms, I do have absolutely no relation to the initial momentum this album might have sparked. I have refrained from reading any reviews or other discussions about it so I do not have any knowledge of any popular interpretations of this album.

I'm disclosing this only in case of anyone wondering why what I am saying is not lining up with any pre-established head-canon. So yeah here is your explanation.

In The End

I thought about starting with the first song on the album but I decided against it, because I'm not sure I am actually going to discuss the entire album, so I decided to start with the first song I listened to.

In The End was one of the songs I listened to in probably the first half hour of discovering the band. My initial reaction was something akin to: "Well that sounds extremely grandiose, pretentious and overly dramatic... I guess I like it" I was only after four days later one of my friends, who actually used to be a huge BVB fan back in the day when scene-kids were still a thing, explained the concept of the album to me and showed me The Legion of the Black(during which, I have to admit, I mostly talked over the video and made sarcastic comments about plot-inconsistencies) , that I realised just how fitting the aforementioned grandiosity of this song actually is.

Which conveniently leads me into my interpretation of both the lyrics as well as their narrator which I think I can safely assume is "The Prophet". For the sake of simplicity and readability, I will save my thoughts on plot any characters as they are presented in the album for a later date.

Soo lyrics. I will just insert them and make comments whenever I feel it fitting.

In the end
As you fade into the night
Who will tell the story of your life?

Okay so right out of the gate the essential message of the song – to which I from now on I am going to refer to, as chapter, since it is as what I am going to treat it from now on, a chapter in the greater story of the album, namely the last chapter of the regular edition – is established.

It's The End what will happen now and more so what will happen after it all ends? The fact that the question is aimed not at the narrator himself but instead to a second party the listener, tells us that the subject matter here is not a self-doubt the question is not who will tell MY story because I the Prophet know who is going to tell my story. The entire album is constructed in a way that suggests that The Prophet is singing the song to his followers to The Legion of the black and we as the listeners are through our listening, a part of them. We are ought to ask ourselves who is going to tell the story of OUR revolution.

In the end
As my soul's laid to rest
What is left of my body
Or am I just a shell?

I will be the first to admit that I did struggle with the first verse quite a bit. The first time I listened to it I did not understand the second line at all an after I learned what the album was about all I hears was "As my soldiers lay to rest", which to be completely honest sill makes more sense to me, seeing as The Legion is repeatedly referred to as soldiers during the cause of the album. I also struggled to make sense of the last line in this verse. The question didn't make sense to me. So not assuming that it is just a victim of an unfortunate case of writers-block in an else wise coherent song I have come to the following interpretation.

The question isn't to be taken as a contemplation of what happens to a person after their death, it is instead a question also directed to his followers. He isn't really asking what will literally happen to his soul and body, he is asking what is happening to his work as the leader of the revolution. He is implying that once he dies he won't be really dead, but instead, his soul is going to keep looming over the legion embodied the spirit of the new world he's created.

And I have fought
And with flesh and blood, I commanded an army
Through it all
I have given my heart for a moment of glory (I gave it all)

Here another reoccurring theme of the album emerges. The thought of giving it all. Fighting until the end and all of that for a single glorious moment of victory or a heroic death

In the end
As you fade into the night
Who will tell the story of your life

And who will remember your last goodbye
'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid to die

This is the point when the first question introduced in the intro is resolved. Who will remember YOUR last goodbye, Because I am not afraid to die. Everyone in the Legion should think about their end, their last moments and their legacy. He has found closure and he isn't afraid to die.

Born a saint
But with every sin, I still wanna be holy
I will live again
Who we are
Isn't how we live we are more than our bodies
If I fall I will rise back up and relive my glory

I am going to talk about this verse as a whole because both parts play into the same two themes. The two themes divinity and sin and invincibility, together with the aforementioned third one of glory make up the foundation of the Prophet's character. All of them are explored to some extent in all of the album's songs.

Divinity and sin is the most integral to the Prophets character, it is of course best explored in the title track Wretched and Divine and makes up most of his motivation and the arising conflict. The context in which it is brought up here is to once again remind US the listeners and followers that he sees himself as superior. A saint who has sinned but a saint nonetheless.

This idea of superiority is reinforced by the addition of the second theme the thought of invincibility, first established in Bulletproof. The Prophet thinks he cannot be harmed. No matter what happens he will live forever. If he falls he will rise back up to relive his glory. Because he is The Wretched and Divine.

This all re-establishes an overwhelming sense of colossal arrogance.

And I LOVE IT.

Not only does it make sense in a story context, but it also makes for a way more interesting protagonist. It fits the theme and the music which just screams for the exact sense of grandiosity that the lyrics provide. All of that makes for an extremely enjoyable listening and re-listening experience

Sooo that turned out longer than I anticipated, maybe I'll write a second part one day I have quite a bit to say about the plot so let me know if anyone's interested in more of this