Every month, Decibel scribe Shane Mehling reviews the four videos that appear in the monthly metal mag. under “Decibel’s Clips of the Month at Metal Injection.” This month, watch picks from Old Man Gloom, Pallbearer, Inter Arma and a classic clip from Death Angel
Old Man Gloom – “The Lash”
Seven-minute clip right off the bat. Hoo boy. A seventh of the way in, and just a bunch of desert. Sort of like the beginning of 2001 and sort of like somewhere outside Albuquerque. All right, now we got a guy in a cloak and he’s, uh, dragging a pile of sticks. Two minutes and this guy is really dragging these sticks somewhere. Okay, it took another 90 seconds for him to untie the sticks and make like a pyre maybe. Wait, he cut open a bag and stuff’s dripping out of it. Jesus, this took five minutes. Finally, here’s some fire. All right. And the guy in the cloak was a monkey carving, and the carving is what’s on fire? Is this what I’m seeing right now? And then Jawas show up? Phew, it’s over.
Pallbearer – “Watcher in the Dark”
Well shit, we all know a Pallbearer video ain’t gonna be any shorter. Is the next video grindcore maybe? Anyway, this video so far is pretty much the same goddamn thing. Seriously. Someone now in a white cloak walking around barren lands. Two minutes so far, and the only difference is some water and no sticks. Hey! It’s the band playing the dark. Guys, thanks for changing it up a bit. Could maybe something else happen? Maybe a bunch of shots from inside a kaleidoscope? And I mean like way too many? Is that possible? Great. And then just show the cloak guy a little more, add a floating orb and, yep, that was nearly 11 minutes of my day.
Inter Arma – “Destroyer”
Jesus Christ, another epic goddamn clip? You’re lucky I have a lasagna in the oven. And while the other two clips skimped on the storylines, they’re practically Inception compared to this doozy, where it’s 10 minutes of space shuttles taking off, old trippy psychedelia, planets and explosions. What does it mean? I saw a monkey carving burned up like 20 minutes ago and I have a much better idea what that shit means if you’re asking me to tell you the message behind a picture of Jupiter and then an A-bomb. Honestly, just play all three videos at the same time and maybe something will click.
CLASSIC CLIP: Death Angel – “Voracious Souls”
Fucking finally. Twenty seconds in and people are headbanging, dudes are skateboarding, you got some loitering in a graveyard, a crazy ’80s West Coast metal crowd, moshing around a burning vehicle, members of Death Angel wearing Death Angel shirts… hell, even when they’re just walking down the street it’s an exciting reprieve from the slogs I took on this month. This video is nearly six minutes and it almost feels like it’s going by too quick. I know you musicians want to be artsy and dense and monumental, but what most people really want to see is the band pouring some beers in plastic cups and just taking their shirts off.
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