Best Metal Videos of All Time
Honourable Mention 11: Bleed—Meshuggah
Honourable Mention 11: Bleed—Meshuggah Total Score = 11;
Scoring rationale: 9 points for the song + 1 for telling a story by metaphor + 1 for production values = 11;
As such, I rate it number Eleven in the Top Ten, which—in metal—is a special honour all by itself.
One point for production values? The video shifts from colour to black-and-white, is very dark and very blurry and switches all kinds of images willy-nilly. Meshuggah is doing a lot in such a short video. The production values score reflects how much they have done with so little. A descent into nightmare through a series of metaphors via striking imagery.
Metaphors? In metal? Are you kidding me? No. At their best, bands like Voivod, Rush, Tool, Threshold and Meshuggah are masters in it.
You mean you understand this video? Reading the lyrics plus drummer Thomas Haake’s comment (quoted in the 8th comment below the Youtube video) saying: “This song is about the aneurysm in your head killing you, and how you change from a living being to a dying being.” Combine this with Haake saying that “obZen means that mankind has found its ‘Zen’ in the obscure and obscene” and a lot of the imagery in the movie begins to make sense.
It’s like they’re trying to squeeze in too much in too small a space. Exactly like their music. Can you say polyrhythms, polymetered song structures and abstract approach? It’s what they do.
So these guys are the hyper-serious, near-autist geeks of metal? I don’t think so, otherwise they wouldn’t have made a video of them playing air instruments in their own tourbus of one of their own songs1.
Did I miss something else? Yes. This might be one of those rare music videos2 in which the band or artist itself does not appear at all.
Don’t say: Chickee in the baskee3.
Do say: Sometimes, indeed, more is more.
🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Especially singer Jens Kidman using a pencil as a microphone is a nice touch;
Like Tool’s “Stinkfist”, Queen and Bowie’s “Under Pressure”, Metallica’s “All Nightmare Long”, Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask”, and a few others;
These Swedish chefs operate at a different level;
Author’s note: This ends the honourable mentions part of the Best Metal Videos of All Time series. Since I’m on holidays in Italy (Torino) right now, I’m going to take a break from this series until November, which will mark its glorious return. Many thanks for reading!