Recently, a growing number of metal bands are choosing to release animated videos instead of the normal performance or vaguely concept-oriented clips. The latest to cross over to the art side is Gojira, who hired Spanish artist Jossie Malis to render abstract and psychedelic images for their "All the Tears" video.
Late last year, Metallica released the animated "All Nightmare Long," which was created by Roboshobo (a.k.a. Robert Schober), who also directed Mastodon's excellent "Sleeping Giant." And Japanese eccentrics Dir En Grey have become well known for combining weird animation, surreal, unsettling live footage and performance shots, as they did on the new, trippy "Dozing Green," which was created with their longtime director Hiroyuki Kondo.
There are several reasons why releasing animated videos is appealing to metal bands. Animation is a good way to express ideas and present imagery that's not possible with conventional effects, it's a whole lot less expensive than CGI and pyrotechnics and, perhaps most important, it limits the amount of time musicians have to be on video sets lip-synching and air-guitaring the same songs over and over and over, leaving far more time to get wasted and pick up hot metal chicks.
Watch the new Gojira video and the clips by Metallica, Mastodon and Dir En Grey and let us know what you think of the growing popularity of animated videos.
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