With the addition of guitarist Jade Puget as a permanent member, it is the first AFI album to feature the current line-up of the band.

They asked him to join the band as the new guitarist and immediately began writing the album; Puget had already written the basis for "Malleus Maleficarum".

Bassist Hunter Burgan later shared a concept design from Forbes, which prominently depicts a literal skeleton and other faces and bones.

Alternative Press gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, commenting that "with new guitarist Jade Puget adding a sense of brooding, thespian eloquence to the disc's shadowy post-hardcore, AFI all but reinvented themselves," and "With longer, deeper, richer, more complex compositions than they've ever attempted before, Black Sails tackles everything from brooding hardcore ... to shimmering balladry..." The publication also went as far as to say that the album is "their first epic.

"[2] Decoy Music praised Havok's lyrical contribution to the album, commending his efforts to "find himself," saying "the way he expresses how he feels is pure poetry."