Australian hardcore act Statues recently revealed their graphic and disturbing video for ‘Unrest’, which represents a a visual portrayal of the struggles with anxiety and PTSD.
This theme is at the centre of the band’s upcoming concept album ‘No Grave, No Burial’, due for release on November 10. Pre-orders for the record are available on iTunes.
In this mood board, director Jacob Kemp, vocalist Alex Shom and guitarist John Overthrow take us through the horror-based inspiration behind ‘Unrest’.
David Cronenberg’s ‘The Brood’
Jacob Kemp: ‘The Brood’ is a great example of taking the theme of personal trauma and representing it metaphorically in visceral body horror, the film being about a new experimental form of therapy that physiologically manifests ones traumas as ulcerations and wounds, and for one character… something else. It’s an early film of David Cronenberg, who’s built his career on thought-provoking body horror.
In the Unrest clip, the song’s theme of PTSD is metaphorically manifested into the “alien parasite” that’s embedded itself inside you through traumatic experience. It makes you sick to the stomach. Particularly as you know it’s there, it’s inside you, and that sickness is literally eating you from the inside out. You’re constantly reminded of it all the way to bursting point.
It’s unsettling, uncomfortable and certainly not an accessible concept for everyone, but you can’t discredit mental illness by underselling the trauma. There is no truth or authenticity in that and to not attempt it is disrespectful and trivialising when you’re basing your art around the subject matter. This was something the band and I agreed quite heavily on when approaching this video.
BEHEMOTH – ‘Blow Your Trumpets, Gabriel’
Jacob Kemp: When approach a music video, you have to visually interpret it in a way that meets the song, moment by moment, with the highs, lows and imagery that subconsciously flow into your head the first time you listen to it. You want it so that whenever anyone listens to the song, they can’t help but visualise the music video. Behemoth hit the nail on the head. While the intent behind the Behemoth clip differs entirely from our one, it’s aesthetically
the perfect video for its respective song and I feel flavours of the pacing, structure and engagement have bled into our video.
Spiderman versus the Symbiote
Alex Shom: Spiderman, since I was a kid, has always been my favourite superhero. I remember watching Venom and Spiderman battle and saying to myself “that’s evil Spiderman”. When I grew older I began relating Venom more so to the undesirable parts of ourselves that we lay dormant and thought the idea of something forcibly taking over you and altering your perception and emotions was very relatable to depressive symptoms and anxiety disorders.
Slipkot – Spit it out
Alex Shom: Everything Slipknot does tends to have a horror vibe, especially the masks being reminiscent of various horror characters. This is the first video clip of theirs I saw and it is based on Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’, which had a massive influence on my music taste and love for Horror.
Slither (2006)
John Overthrow: This movie definitely inspired our mind-set when plotting the ‘Unrest’ video clip. Alien creatures growing inside host bodies, horrific mutations and hosts transforming into monstrosities. Here’s a fun video showing some of the gross kill scenes from Slither, which inspired some of the disgusting imagery we used in ‘Unrest’.
Alien
John Overthrow: When you think Sci-fi/Horror, you can’t look past Alien. The face-hugger definitely came to mind when we discussed theme and the relation to something being planted inside of you that just isn’t right, or something taking you over from the inside out. Great film and still stands the test of time.