VIDEOGRAPHY: SKELETONWITCH, CHTHONIC, SAKTMÓÐIGUR, AND HATSUNE MIKU

In this post we bring you three globe-spanning videos that premiered either yesterday or today, with our performers hailing from the exotic locales of Ohio, Taiwan, Iceland, and Japan.

SKELETONWITCH

The lyrics to the title track from Serpents Unleashed tell you a lot about what you hear in the song: “Demonic, defiant, eyes of burning chaos / With darkness at our side / Evil at our command / Crush the weak and feeble, their place within the dust / Rain fire from the shadows / Striking hard and fast / Vomiting the blackest hate / The spawn of wickedness…”

The new video for the song strikes hard and fast, too. Rapidly strobing between shots as the band deliver the goods, the film makes effective use of light and shadow, slo-mo interludes, and split-screen views. Check it out next:

 

CHTHONIC

The latest video (I think it’s the fifth) for Chthonic’s latest album Bú-Tik is for the song called “Next Republic”. The music is a good example of what Andy Synn referred to in his review of  — the band’s incorporation of a more wide-ranging, less specific array of influences and styles, in this case an influx of power metal vibes and maybe an even more pronounced Scandinavian melodeath style.

The video was filmed at a live performance . . . and here it is:

 

SAKTMÓÐIGUR

Saktmóðigur are an Icelandic punk band whose roots go back to 1991. I came across them for the first time through their 2013 EP, Demetra er dáin, (reviewed here). My favorite track from that EP, and one of the most infectious songs I’ve heard this year, is “Kobbi V”, and so I was stoked to find out that it’s the subject of an official video released in the last couple of days.

I’m still digging those thick, sludgy riffs, the vocals that move from kind of Lou Reed cool to bleeding raw, and the fusion of melodic hooks, punk rhythms, and psychedelic haze. Cool video, too. I’m pretty sure it’s the first music video I’ve seen this year (or ever?) that includes reindeer.

http://saktmodigur.bandcamp.com/album/demetra-er-d-in#
https://www.facebook.com/saktmodi

 

 

HATSUNE MIKU

About 10 days ago I posted about The Waggaki Band, a Japanese collective who have recorded covers of Vocaloid songs. Our Tokyo-based correspondent Phro turned me onto that band and their videos. Today he sent me another video link, without much explanation, so I’m not at all sure I’ve figured out what I’m hearing and seeing — and Phro is now asleep so I can’t ask him.

But it appears from my net sleuthing that this video was a finalist in this year’s edition of a Japanese animation competition called The MMD Cup, and the star of the show is a singing synthesizer application (a type of Vocaloid software) with a popular anime persona known as Hatsune Miku. (or at least that’s what The Font of All Human Knowledge tells me about Hatsune Miku). The song is named “Corpse Attack”, but I don’t know who created the music. The song isn’t bad, but it’s the animation that’s the main draw here. Check it out: