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Hexvessel Return to the Forest in Video for “Sacred Marriage”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 1st, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Really, there wasn’t anywhere else for Hexvessel to go but the woods. Their prior video for the song “I am the Ritual,” paired the Finnish folk naturalists with director Justin Oakey, and it worked well. Oakey‘s work has been featured here a few times by now (videos here), and for “Sacred Marriage,” the band and director have teamed again, bringing a more modern approach to Oakey‘s highly atmospheric common themes of human interaction with natural spaces, woodsy spirituality, and so on.

Those who’ve followed his clips will find his style recognizable, despite the less medieval feel (in the costuming anyway — it’s not like anyone takes out a cellphone and starts looking up direction in the middle of the forest), and the song gives hints of guitar fuzz while maintaining Hexvessel‘s signature melodicism. Hope you dig it:

More of Oakey‘s work can be found at the Burial Offerings website.

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Ulver Amongst the Wood Nymphs in the Magic Hollow

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 10th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Nothing good ever comes from following a wood nymph into a tent. Such is the lesson learned by the strong-chinned protagonist in the new video for the track “Magic Hollow” from Norwegian post-black metal innovators Ulver‘s latest offering, Childhood’s End. The album is a collection of obscure ’60s and ’70s covers (they do Gandalf, which is pretty impressive in itself), and “Magic Hollow” originally opened side B of The Beau Brummels‘ 1967 outing, Triangle.

And though the band once appeared on The Flintstones as The Beau Brummelstones, you’ll note that Ulver‘s take on the already subdued original is pretty severe. If the visual style of the video looks familiar, the director is Justin Oakey of Burial Offerings Productions, whose work on clips by Godstopper and Hexvessel has been featured here in the past. With “Magic Hollow,” he continues to harbor a fascination with human ritual and otherworldly forest spaces. “Magic Hollow” reminds of a silent film, with a crisp narrative and evocative imagery.

Hope you enjoy:

Check out more of Oakey‘s work at the Burial Offerings Tumblr page.

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