Metal bands make the best music videos, period. ’80s metal had hot rocker chicks licking the hoods of their cars; the ’90s were all about epic battles and a fight against everything mainstream. But my favorite is the twisted, fucked up videos that get made for the death metal bands of the 21st century.
A death metal music video is basically a five-minute horror film. If you watch the video and you don’t see blood, a hot psychotic chick, or some taboo subject being reenacted, then the director really hasn’t done his/her job. Portland death metal band Those Who Lie Beneath want their music and videos to scare the shit out of people, and when interviewed for Noisecreep, the band even went so far as to say, “What we are trying to do is to be not only as brutal as we can, but as evil. I want people to be like, ‘This band, these guys are amazing, they’re fucking shredding. They’re brutal, they’re evil, they’re dark,’ because we are.”
Those Who Lie Beneath’s new video for their song "Awaken" – from their debut Rise Records release An Awakening – might not scream evil, but it is most definitely a piece of dark, bitter chocolate that looks sweet but leaves a nasty bad taste in your mouth. Check it out below:
I love the abandoned shack location for the video with the light streaming through the cracks of the walls onto only the band members’ faces and instruments. Of course, the video wouldn’t be complete without a pretty psychotic girl – in this case, a girl who starts out very much like Alice in her Wonderland, sitting in front of a teapot looking innocent. She quickly turns into a cheshire cat-grinning she-devil who desperately needs an exorcism, a toothbrush, and a bath. It’s entertaining to say the least.
Just think: If the video is this good, what might these guys have up their sleave for their live shows? Hmmm, perhaps sacrificing a gerbil or defacing a picture of Justin Bieber? We can only hope.
You can catch Those Who Lie Beneath live at Satyricon this Thirsday, May 27th with Phoenix’s Knights of the Abyss, San Diego’s Burning the Masses, along with And Hell Followed With. Show starts early at 6 p.m. With this kind of lineup, it’s sure to be an epic show. And someone is guaranteed to puke.
– Deanna Uutela