A lot of concept albums fall short because they’re essentially half-concepts I don’t mean to disparage anybody else, but oftentimes it feels like artists are trying to shoehorn these songs about their lives to fit within a concept, when in reality all that’s there is a costume and a character design.
I’ve written concept albums in the past, but I’ve never truly had the time to flesh out a story and work on it to a level where every detail is there. “What we had this time, that had been forced upon us through the pandemic, was the ability to work on something in more detail than we ever had before.
How did you go about building the world of The Phantom Tomorrow? I was fascinated by this idea of getting what you want but then feeling shame because of it, because I think it’s something we all experience.” The name comes from Judas Iscariot, who in the Bible is paid for betraying Jesus, but afterwards he feels shame and buries the coins he’s given in a field, which has become known as the Field Of Blood. The Field Of Bone came from that conundrum – it’s like a blessed and cursed location, and in the world of The Phantom Tomorrow it’s a concept, rather than an actual place. So there’s this weird thing whereby heaven is posited as this great place where you live in the sky with your loved ones, but you don’t want to go there because it means your life is over. But at the same time, no-one wants to die. And in so many people’s lives, particularly those who are part of an Anglo-Christian society like America, the endgame is dying and going to heaven. “Early in the process – around January 2020, before the pandemic – I started thinking about what the endgame would be for this world I was building. Where does Fields Of Bone fit within the world of The Phantom Tomorrow? Here, Andy tells Kerrang! about the origins of The Phantom Tomorrow, the story behind new single Fields Of Bone and the work he’s undertaken to ensure this is a tale that leaves no stone unturned… A concept record about a group of outcasts and the mysterious hero who watches over their world, it looks set to be one of 2021’s most ambitious rock records. That uncompromised work ethic and vision is evident in The Phantom Tomorrow, Black Veil Brides’ sixth album, which will be released on June 4 via Sumerian. Whether it was creating a whole film – Legion Of The Black – to accompany Black Veil Brides’ 2012 LP Wretched And Divine: The Story Of The Wild Ones, or authoring a supernatural graphic novel to tie-in with his Andy Black solo project, he’s an artist who’s always looked to create in a manner that’s bigger and bolder than the majority of his peers. When it comes to his art, Andy Biersack has never done things by halves.
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