VIDEO OF THE WEEK – MUSHROOMHEAD

Chosen by DJ Monk

Despite the ongoing lockdown in many parts of the Überverse, we are still receiving a healthy bundle of submissions for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ title. While some artists are trying to find new ways of visually interpreting their songs, others obviously have had the guts of their filming completed in advance of the global quarantine, with the finishing touches being added in isolated post-production. However, as lockdown starts to ease in some territories, we are starting to notice the return of more “traditional”-style music videos…

Our lead offering this week is a positively epic affair, as Mushroomhead return with the second single to be lifted from their forthcoming eighth album, ‘A Wonderful Life’, due to be released on 19 June via Napalm Records. However, there is nothing twee or chintzy about the video that accompanies ‘The Heresy’, as it is a suitably dense and moody offering, set in a post-apocalyptic world where everything has gone to hell in a handcart and which perfectly matches the darkness of the song with a brilliantly, detailed and in places disturbing clip:

We maintain the somewhat dystopian theme with a rather freaky video from French melancholic doom project Hidden Phase, and the somewhat discomforting ‘Sell Your World’, from their current album, ‘The Deviant Place Theory’ – be warned, however, if you have a phobia about clowns then you might not want to click the arrow:

Next up, we have the first of our “isolation” videos, in the form of ‘Here I Am’, the latest offering from Swedish heavy metallers Starblind, taken from their forthcoming new album ‘Bubbling Black Ooze’. If the song sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a cover of a 2005 track by the band Danger. The video itself isn’t particularly noteworthy, but appealed to me because of the neat juxtaposition of vocalist Marcus Sannefjord Oklerund standing on top of a hill while he belts out the choruses:

Our next choice was actually nominated by one of our regular readers, Ed – which is actually appropriate as the video for Finnish folk metallers Ensiferum’s ‘Rum, Women, Victory’ is made up of clips submitted by their quarantined fans, continuing a trend many acts have followed during the ongoing isolation (although, of course, it is not a new visual trick). The track is taken from new album ‘Thalassic’, being released via Metal Blade on 10 July:

Our final lockdown-themed video comes from Pennsylvania-based nu-core newcomers Tallah, who have found themselves locking in ‘The Silo’ with the somewhat disturbing visual interpretation of their debut single, taken from their forthcoming ‘Matriphagy’ album, due for release in October. The band feature one Max Portnoy on drums, and he also directed the video, which does contain flashing imagery:

We lighten the mood somewhat with our final despatch from the audio-visual frontline, in the shape of ‘How Do You Know’, one half of the new double A-side singe from UK psych rock duo Goldray. The song slowly builds as it really demonstrates the power of Leah Rasmussen’s amazing voice, and the single is suitably bright and breezy, contrasting very nicely with some of the doom and gloom featured elsewhere in this week’s selection:

That’s your lot for this week. Hope you have enjoyed the new sights and sounds we have brought to you this week. Until next Sunday, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StaySafe…