Chosen by Monk and The Dark Queen
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. Many of them are produced against the background of continuing quarantine conditions in some countries, while others reflect artists being able to return and flex their creative muscles once again.
Our chosen offering this week comes from a duo who truly epitomize the term “legacy” as they are the second-generation dyed-in-the-blood southern rock royalty by the names of Devon Allman and Duane Betts – and you shouldn’t need me to elaborate on their legendary pedigree, as their surnames make it self-evident. And, bless their hearts, the brothers in rock are about to release their second full-length studio album under the Allman Betts Band banner. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear an advance copy, and believe me it’s another stonker, picking up where last year’s brilliant ‘Down To The River’ debut left off and defiantly flying the flag for good old-fashioned southern blues rock boogie in, well, good old-fashioned southern blues rock boogie style… They have given us a taster of what to expect with the epic-sounding ‘Pale Horse Rider’, which is beautifully complemented with an eloquently cinematic video clip, which both matches the story and captures the spirit of some of the truly classic western movies of yore:
Even before the current pan(dem)ic-enforced lockdown, animations were a popular form of visualizing songs, but it has become an increasingly popular medium during the recent crisis, and our first two runners-up are drawn from that creative well… The first comes from French behemoths Gojira, who took the metal world by complete surprise this past week when they broke their four-year long recording silence to release an apposite commentary on the changed day-to-day society in which we currently live, in the form of the appropriately entitled standalone single ‘Another World’, which itself takes its inspiration from the explorer Ferdinand Magellan. However, rather than looking backwards over the shoulder, the band have presented us with an Anime-style video to accompany the track, which hopefully in turn serves as a precursor to more new material to come soon:
Our next offering is slightly darker and more ethereal, as folk rockers Finntroll tread in the footsteps of the shaman with the clip to illustrate ‘Forsen’, the second single to be lifted from their forthcoming new album, ‘Vredesvävd’, which is due next month. The video is simply delivered, which makes it all the more effective, while at the same time capturing and reflecting the tone and message of the song:
Our final two offerings this week comes from previous winners of this very accolade… The first sees us continue the folk metal theme, with German lunatics Feuerschwanz, who seem to have a very unhealthy fascination with all things medieval, as once again evinced on ‘Malleus Meleficarum’, the latest single from their recently released ‘Das Elfte Gebot’ album. We’ve previously featured a couple of tracks from the accompanying bonus album, ‘Die Sieben Todsünden’, which features covers of songs by Ed Sheeran, Rammstein and German dance act Seeed, among others, and this video continues the thematic spirit of those videos:
More hurdy-gurdy fuelled mayhem now thanks to our favourite pirate metal drinking crüe (sic), Alestorm, who also surprised us earlier this week with another unexpected video, in the form of that to accompany ‘Big Ship, Little Ship’, which was originally only available as a 7” single included in the limited edition wooden box set of most recent album, ‘Curse Of The Crystal Coconut’, but now brought to wider attention – and deservedly so, especially in view (sic) of the typically madcap accompanying video, parts of which were filmed on ÜRHQ’s back doorstep…
Well, there you go. 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…
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