Chosen by Monk
As the rays of light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been the past 14 months of isolation and generally being shit upon from great heights grow brighter day by day, the rock ‘n’ roll year that is 2021 has somehow crept, crawled and sneaked closer to its halfway point, with its DMs firmly planted in the mire and muck of the chaos around it, with a healthy slew of new music pinging itself our way, and especially the continuing tsunami of submissions we receive for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ award… Yes, as we’ve said on multiple occasions, one constant throughout the vagaries of inconsistent and often hard to stomach lockdowns is the amazing level of adaptive creativity that bands and video directors the length and breadth of the Überverse have continued to show, often in the most adverse of circumstances.
After viewing all of the entries – and, yes, we did watch each and every one of the more than 150 submissions we received this past week alone – at the end of the day (or night, depending on where you are in the Überverse), there could be only one winner… Except that, this week, for the first time since the beginning of February, we actually have two clips, which, after repeated viewings by both myself and The Dark Queen, we couldn’t separate…
The first comes from the genius who goes by the name of Peter Tägtgren, and more specifically his PAIN project, with whom he is telling us all about the party that has been going on inside his head during the pandemic, as he explained:
“I decided to write a song about all the bullshit from the last year of lock-up and people’s struggle, including my own, to adapt to the new way of life. Suddenly, all of us had to deal with our inner selves in our secluded new life, so this is the cheer-up song for people. Each of us has our own party in our head. Musically, it’s a hell of a party song. I can’t wait to play it live.”
The accompanying video is beautifully shot, combining a sense of claustrophobia with that of joyous release, which matches the surprisingly upbeat feel of the song itself. It also features guest appearances by Joe Lynn Turner and a certain alien from PAIN’s past:
Our second selection is no less powerful, but in a very different way, as we find out that ‘Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend’ in this epic clip for the new single from Powerwolf, which is raised to a whole different level by a totally awesome performance from Arch Enemy’s Alissa White- Gluz, who not only adds a unique spin to the German metallers’ trademark sound but completely commands the screen in the accompanying clip.
Alissa White-Gluz told us:
“I enjoyed putting a woman’s spin on ‘Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend’; altering the lyrics to fit a strong message of female empowerment and delivering them with a mighty roar! Thanks to Powerwolf for being open to having their song reconstructed like this!”
Powerwolf keyboardist Falk Maria Schlegel, who also features heavily in the video:
“It was a pleasure to work and perform together with Alissa for the very first time on our joint video shoot for ‘Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend’. Immediately, there was a great energetic atmosphere on set! Alissa is such a wonderful artist and interacting with her during this shoot as well as re-interpreting this video together was an amazing experience.”
‘Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend’ is included on ‘Missa Cantorem’, a bonus disc that will come with certain versions of Powerwolf’s forthcoming eighth studio album, ‘Call Of The Wild’, which will feature re-imagined versions of songs from the band’s back catalogue, with guest vocals by the likes of Johan Hegg, Doro Pesch and Matt Heafy, among others.
So, there you have it, only our second #VideoOfTheWeek tag team of the year…. Will there be any more before 2021 has wound its way into the annals of history? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see… But, until next time, keep ‘er lit, stay safe and we’ll catch up with you again, same place, roughly the same time next week \m/
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