The Agonist Take Aim at Fashioncore in New Video for “Gates of Horn and Ivory”

The Agonist’s new, David Brodsky-directed video for their song “Gates of Horn of Ivory” is a very (very, very, very) early contender for Best Metal Video of 2015. I’m not even a big Agonist admirer (although I do think this song rocks pretty hard). I just think the thing is damn funny.

The clip takes place in some alternate universe, where The Agonist are… hm… how to say this?… well, they’re the kind of band that would land the cover of a not-very-good magazine, which we’ll call Infreeze. And in this universe, The Agonist are far more concerned with aesthetic than they are music. The resulting “behind-the-scenes” look at the making of this version of The Agonist’s video is really not very far from the truth for some bands. I don’t think I have to name names. You all know who I’m talking about.

This isn’t just a funny concept for a video, however — as explained by guitarist Danny Marino, style-over-substance is the specific theme of the song:

“The title and lyrics of ‘Gates of Horn and Ivory’ were inspired by the ancient Greek text The Odyssey. It is said that within dreams should you see something enter through gates made of horn you can know it to be true in life. If the gates are ivory that it is a deception, and in life you should not trust whatever you saw come through those gates. It’s a very interesting concept and I adapted it to things I have witnessed in my life. For the video we decided to use the music industry as the setting for the duality of horn (truth) and ivory (deception).”

Watch “Gates of Horn and Ivory” below. It appears on The Agonist’s latest, Eye of Providence, which comes out February 24 on Century.