Dogmatic

The new video for Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” from Christ Illusion is having its premiere on mp3.com today. Click here to check it out.

Directed by Iranian filmmaker Tony Petrossian (Slipknot), ‘Eyes of the Insane’ is a first-person narrative about the horrors leading up to the final moments of a soldier at war. The entire video is a single, long and tight close-up of the soldier’s eye with images clearly reflected within his pupil and iris and perfectly choreographed with the rhythm of the music. Reflected are disconcerting images of para trooping into enemy territory, gunfire, helicopters and tanks, explosions, poignant flashbacks of his wife and child and home, and the images of his death. Two endings were filmed — one where the soldier dies from his combat injuries, and the other where he commits suicide.

The lyrics for ‘Eyes of the Insane’ were written by Slayer’s bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and the song was inspired by a magazine article entitled ‘Casualty of War’. The article told the story about a highly-decorated U.S. soldier in Iraq who, a mere four days away from going home, had a mental breakdown that left him “seeing faces, soldiers’ faces.” He took his own life.

Over the band’s twenty-plus years together, Slayer’s music has dealt overtly with the brutality of war and religious fanaticism. Many of the songs on ‘Christ Illusion’, in particular, scrutinize America’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan and the shrinking distance between the Church and State. And a huge chunk of Slayer’s core audience are those blue-collar kids who enlisted in the military and are getting blown to bits.