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Two recent comments by readers just converged in one video, that for Black Breath’s “Unholy Virgin”.
The first is by loutibbs, who pointed out comedian Patton Oswalt’s bit about ’80s metal videos. You can see it here. The relevant point by Oswalt, which occurs a minute in, is about the proximity (or lack thereof) of men and women in ’80s metal videos.
The second is by Cliff Evans, whose A Lifetime in Dark Rooms blog is a must-read for horror film fans. He points out that “the video isn’t really a mass-marketing tool for a band anymore”. He cites the examples of Cephalic Carnage’s “Ohrwurm” (see it here, along with his comment) and Merrimack’s “In the Halls of White Death” (see it here in its uncensored form, along with commentary by Chris Rowella). Both are very NSFW.
These two ideas come together in the “Unholy Virgin” video, which you can see above. For a minute, director Emily Denton has us ogle a pair of legs and very red heels. Then she cuts abruptly to the band. They are layered-up dudes whose black garb is probably an intentional contrast to the video’s women in white. So, true to Oswalt’s point (though, of course, this isn’t the ’80s), we get men in a room and women miles away. The two do intersect, awkwardly, when the pair of legs ends up in the same space as the band. But the band pays no heed to this female distraction. It’s unsexy sexiness or sexy unsexiness – take your pick.
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Still from video
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Perhaps the director is playing with the ’80s trope of “girls with a band”. Or perhaps she is struggling to reconcile some artistic vision – the video could easily have omitted the band, and probably would have been stronger for it – with commercial considerations of promoting the band by including it in the video. Art and commerce’s rocky relationship continues.
Musically, Black Breath’s Heavy Breathing still kicks my ass. Its ingredients aren’t new (Entombed, hardcore), but it has that spark that makes it more than just ingredients. Black Breath delivered my favorite show of this year. They’ve improved a ton since their debut EP, and I hope they’ll mature and grow in this upgraded musical skin.
Speaking of their debut EP, it inspired a cupcakes recipe by Metalcakes. Black Breath cupcakes – believe it! Raspberry is their signature ingredient. They look easy to make, but the scythe made out of candy might be tougher.
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Unmorbid devourment
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Regardless of the Patton Oswald parallels this video is really stupid imo.
The visuals like the music are rad in fits and starts but not really coalescing into anything greater nor communicating anything substantial. I think that’s perhaps the contemporary definition of “great live band”.
Agreed… the only thing I kept thinking is what these guys had to say to convince their girlfriends to take part.
I’ve tried to get into this band several times… based on your descriptions I should love them, but something just doesn’t click. Using the “Sunlight” guitar sound causes inevitable comparisons to Entombed or Nails…but they have neither the songwriting skills of Entombed nor the raw aggression of Nails. So far they’ve been forgettable. I’ve yet to see them live, however, which could possibly fill in the blanks for me.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say, “man this video really sucks,” but the satanic / ritual imagery was cliched (white robes, horse head)and not appropriate for a 4 min-video, as people are going to be scratching their heads and not paying attention to the song. I’ve seen this band perform “Unholy Virgin” live and it was electric and memorable. There is a raunchiness in the song that could have been more adequately expressed though the female character (who is sexy enough to have pulled it off) but the song with the images – everything seemed very bland.
I understand that no one has the cash to produce high-quality videos anymore, but this was very amatuerish. Black Breath is, while not rocket science, a fun, “party time” band. You could throw their album on at a party and everyone would be headbanging like the ’80’s. This video sucked the ‘party’ energy right out of their music.
It’s sexy sexiness. Nice legs. Dumb video.
I have to disagree with everyone. I thought this was awesome. I’m assuming it was deliberately meant to be a bit foolish, but regardless, I enjoyed it.
Legs, erect/bare nipples, silly horse mask with horns, unholy rituals, hairy dudes, leather, sick guitar tone, fuck yeah! This is metal!
Also, props to the singer for having the stones to wear his jacket with no shirt underneath. Nice.
I just don’t understand why metal videos have to be so horrid and cliche. I understand when fun is poked at all the time-worn themes we’re all familiar with, but seriously. The other day I searched for an Amorphis video for what I assumed would be the single off their last record. Sure enough, a video did exist. Sure enough, even in the privacy of my own home, I was embarrassed for myself and more so for the band.
I’m recently a rabid fan of Danish video director Martin de Thurah. I love the dark atmosphere he creates and general classiness of the videos he’s done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLpkXtM-VI8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JoUQ8ty3m0&ob=av2e
I’ve mentioned this to several more conservative metal-minded friends of mine and they remain silent. No comment. Maybe it’s just my sense of aesthetics. Oh, and Marianne Schröder (from the Royksopp video) is magnificent.
I dug it. I think the cheesiness and lack of budget helped – it sort of looked like something from an old exploitation film without a lot of grindhouse revival self-consciousness. It looks like it could have been a sequence from a movie called “Unholy Virgin,” as a matter of fact. The cuts between the story part and the band part were really awkward, which made the sudden appearance of the girl in the band part even more awkward.
Maybe this diminishing reliance on video for mass market distribution is a good thing. Honestly, metal videos used to be terrible, or at least really bland (hi, Obituary, nice to see all of your hair on a big stage). The first metal video I could remember seeing and actually thinking captured some sort of specific aesthetic was Morbid Angel’s “Rapture.”
If I could sum up “In The Halls Of White Death” in one word, it would be “yikes.” If I could sum up “Ohrwurm” in one word, it would be “glaaahhhhhh.” And if I could sum this up in one word, it would be “wait, what?” Which is two words, but you get the idea.
Music’s better than Cephalic Carnage, too, though I usually like Black Breath’s faster stuff.
The chick’s hot and looks like she could have easily played the lead role in Death Proof. But really she serves no purpose in the video.
That was terrible.
I don’t know about terrible. Cheap-looking and stilted, yeah. But it seemed to me like cheap-looking and stilted was the point. Maybe that in and of itself makes it terrible because it’s self-consciously cheap. I thought it was just fucked-up enough to hold my interest.
These, on the other hand, are terrible…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh8XGJsHZC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3TpFZY7cU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEawt270iGI
I love the fact it looks cheap and nasty. The point is for it to look cheap and nasty. It has stoked me even more for BB’s debut UK shows next month. Win, win, win.
No mention of Motorhead yet? Unholy Virgin sounds like a Boss Heavy Metal pedal making love with Lemmy’s mole.
@ Chris Dalton: I hear ya, on both points. Although my thing is strangely more for Karin Andersson than the model. Her weirdness is so damn awesome.
Also, what’s Chris Cunningham doing lately? Why can’t he do metal videos. He’s like the last great weirdo video director from the 90s not yet doing feature-lengths.
I call bands like this “music journalist core” because music journalists are the only people that like it.
^ i disagree. this is easily my no.1 album of the year. the sound of a drunken brawl between entombed, motorhead, and discharge, instruments in hand, with no clear winner.