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. Read more...

The end of November is coming. the leaves have fallen, football season's in full swing and Christmas ornaments are already decorating the city. In other words, it's time once again to get all those year end Top 10 lists together, and while you're at it don't forget to assemble a list of the Top 10 metal videos and send it over to MTV2. The "Headbangers Ball Best of 2008 Countdown" has actually already started and can be found at www.hbb.mtv2.com (click "vote"). Here's the direct link.

The final episode of the year will air on December 20 from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. and will be comprised entirely of the winning videos. If you can't wait 'til then, we'll post the winners right here on the Blog on December 19.

Click "more" to watch some clips you might wanna consider, then vote for your faves: Read more...