Japanese art-metal band Dir En Grey have already proven their immense visual creativity with striking videos for "Saku," "The Final" and "Agitated Screams of Maggots." The band's new clip for "Dozing Green" continues the tradition with footage from Kazuo Umezu's horror manga "The Drifting Classroom."
"Being one of the most renown in its genre, the manga depicts cruel imagery of a battle for survival by a group of elementary school children," says guitarist Kaoru. "The story was also adopted into a Japanese drama series with a more modern twist. We are actually fans of Mr. Umezu’s works and simply wanted to use his manga in our video. The play in the video shows puppets in an imaginary world created using 'fumie,' or the 'step-on stone.' 'Fumie' are originally stones with carvings of Christ or the Virgin Mary used in the Edo period by officials of the Japanese government to reveal practicing Catholics and sympathizers." Click "more" for additionally commentary and the video, which will debut on air on Saturday's "Headbangers Ball," which airs from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. on MTV2.
The "Dozing Green" video was directed by the band's longtime director Hiroyuki Kondo and took two and a half months to create, from filming to post-production, and Kaoru is thrilled with the visual elements and message of the clip.
"We wanted to convey the repeated anguish and mistakes executed by the people," he says. "I thought it was awesome! We are confident that this will be the video that will represent us."
Click here to read a HeadbangersBlog.com interview with Dir En Grey about their new album Uroboros, which drops November 12.
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