An acute attention for detail and thrilling storyline which is perfect for the song.
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8
A harrowing narrative with a murder mystery that will leave you reeling: filled to the brim with subtle artistry and unnerving sounds, Bring Me The Horizon’s new video for ‘True Friends’ reflects the step up in style which we have seen throughout their newest album, That’s The Spirit, released earlier this year.
This narrative video, directed by the band’s frontman, Oli Sykes, tells a dramatic tale of domestic abuse, revenge, and murder, leaving you on the edge of your seat for the whole seven and a half minutes, and then wondering what really happened for a lot longer.
Stark contrasts and artistic touches quickly begin to shine through in this video. The faded colours of the set and video itself echo tension and the emotion of the protagonist. Scenes of abuse and violence are tainted an angry red and a cooler greenish hue is used for the calmer scenes and for the hollow warehouse in which the band stomp out their erratic rhythms.
These images of the band are juxtaposed harshly with the narrative sections, the screen dimensions change and the music cuts out to highlight the transition. This jarring motion on screen intensifies cruel scenes of violence, making them even more uncomfortable to face. The constant variation of pace works well for this song, fitting perfectly to the diverse rhythms which are used throughout. In my opinion, this makes up for the amount which the song is broken up in order to make way for the narrative.
The disrupted and muffled dialogue which fills these narrative sections adds to the cacophony of disturbing sound effects. These are contrasted with the beautiful string undertones of the song which get placed centre stage. Both synthetic sounding and realistic strings whine and moan up to climactic choruses taking the action away from the narrative and back to the bleak space in which the band performs.
With its attention to detail and disturbing narrative, the video for ‘True Friends’ is a truly gripping music video which holds promise for an even more exciting future from the band, and perhaps more from Oli Sykes as a director of the band’s future projects.
Watch the video for ‘True Friends’ below, with the track available to buy now.
