Certainty

Album: Vindicate (2026)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Black Veil Brides released "Certainty" as a single from their seventh album, Vindicate, on January 8, 2026. It arrived not as the sort of rally-the-troops anthem the band has often specialized in, but as something darker and more philosophical, a brooding centerpiece from the album.
  • The inspiration came partly from the film Conclave, whose meditations on faith and authority got frontman Andy Biersack thinking about the hazards of absolute belief.

    "When certainty hardens, curiosity, growth, and the willingness to change become impossible," he explained. "Much of today's political and social discourse exists inside these echo chambers of absolute belief, and that tension drives the narrative of this record."
  • Part of the song's bite comes from Biersack's Catholic upbringing. Raised in the faith and educated in Catholic schools, he developed a complicated relationship with the Church. "I always make the joke, when you're in Catholicism, they tell you that if you're a very good Catholic, the sacred heart of Jesus will appear to you," he told Loudwire Nights host Chuck Armstrong . "Imagine being 6 years old and in the shower thinking that if you're too good, you're going to open the shower curtain and there's going to be a bleeding, beating heart that's on fire outside the shower. The iconography is so aggressive."

    Over time Biersack's worldview wandered from Catholicism to what he jokingly calls "new-age atheism," and eventually to a more general suspicion of certainty itself, religious or otherwise. In his view, ideological echo chambers can function like secular churches: same fervor, different hymnal.
  • "Certainty" was written and co-produced by Andy Biersack and guitarist Jake Pitts. Vindicate is notably the first Black Veil Brides record that the band produced themselves; Biersack credited past collaborators Bob Rock, John Feldmann, and Erik Ron with teaching him and Pitts how to function in a studio, saying, "I wouldn't know how any of this stuff functions without particularly those two."
  • "Certainty" was the final song written and recorded for Vindicate. "It started from an idea Jake sent over, and it came together quickly over the course of a few days," said Biersack. "It felt essential both narratively and musically, capturing the overall tone of what we're aiming for."
  • The video for "Certainty" was directed by George Gallardo Kattah, whose résumé includes work with Chelsea Wolfe and Maneskin. It was filmed while the band was touring in Bogotá, Colombia, and visualizes the song's themes with striking imagery Biersack praised enthusiastically, particularly the notion of fear and pride as biblical twins, forever arguing over who gets to sit in the front pew.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Grammar In Lyrics

Grammar In LyricsMusic Quiz

Lyrics don't always follow the rules of grammar. Can you spot the ones that don't?

When Rock Belonged To Michelob

When Rock Belonged To MichelobSong Writing

Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")Songwriter Interviews

Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in Rock

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in RockSong Writing

We ring the Hell's Bells to see what songs and rockers are sincere in their Satanism, and how much of it is an act.