“ANODYNE SEA”: AS I LAY DYING ARE GETTING REALLY GOOD AT THIS WHOLE MUSIC VIDEO THING

As I Lay Dying have premiered their new video, for the song “Anodyne Sea,” on CraveOnline, and between this and their “Parallels” video, I’d say the band is two-for-two on clips to promote their latest and greatest, The Powerless Rise. Interestingly, each video was helmed by a different director — David Brodsky did “Parallels,” while the mysteriously-monikered McFarland and Pecci of Killswitch Productions did “Anodyne” — so I guess either the band or their handlers just have good taste in filmmakers/pitches.

This video takes place entirely in the first person — it actually took me a beat to realize that we’re watching from the P.O.V. of drummer Jordan Mancino — which has obviously been done before (most recently in Gaspar Noe’s trippy Enter the Void), but, uh, not in any recent metal videos that I can recall. And it’s done with a lot of panache here.

Also working in the video’s favor: the fact that the narrative is actually relevant to the lyrical content of the song. “In my convictions, I’ve found my own grave,” the chorus proclaims, and in case you’re feeling ripped-off that we never learn what, exactly, the band said to get them in such deep doo-doo, well, you weren’t paying attention to the very first line of the song: “None of this matters, none of these words.”

By the way, some of the content of this video is kinda violent/intense, so I think it’s probably fine to watch at work, but you might not wanna risk it…

The Powerless Rise is out now on Metal Blade.

-AR