Machine Head unleashed Japanese influenced ‘Catharsis’ Music Video

Heavy metal legends Machine Head are preparing to release their latest offering Catharsis on Jan 26th next year and to celebrate the upcoming album they’ve just released the music video for the title track, featuring a Japanese theme from the post-World War II era

Frontman Rob Flynn explains:

‘Catharsis’ was a tricky concept to translate to a visual. How do you express somebody’s catharsis? Frasier, the director, brought up the Butoh dance concept and it tied in so well into the idea of what catharsis could be. And when the Butoh dancers began performing for the video, we were blown away. Their expressions were so pained, almost horrifying, and yet very sad, it was extremely moving.”

Butoh dance is literally and figuratively the dance of death and pain and was created around the radioactive wasteland left behind in the wake of the nuclear bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. The dancers paint themselves in ash and use facial expressions and body language to express the pain and suffering which resulted from the atomic warfare.

Rob goes on saying:

We love making videos now. There used to be a bunch of rules and around what you could and couldn’t do in a music video. Most of it was a boring performance, with us ‘pretending’ to play and sing the song. Now, it’s like making a crazy, whacked-out movie. You can get weird and strange and have a blast. We are super proud of how well this video tuned out!”

Pre-Order the new album right via Nuclear Blast Records here.