San Francisco-based death metal two piece Hatchets For Hands have released the music video for their song "Bad Men" off the group's new LP Cabaret Of Decay, which dropped earlier this year. The highly cinematic, blood-soaked new video premiered exclusively with Knotfest last Friday (June 26th).

The band shares how the dramatic, single-shot video concept for "Bad Men" was the perfect approach to bring the track to life. "The film's director (Nicholas Wotyuk) had an idea from the very beginning to shoot the entire video in one take using a high speed camera to capture the terror and violence of the chase."

Check out the music video, as well as an interview with Hatchets For Hands drummer / vocalist Cullen Poythress below.

The Bad Men video feels very cinematic. It felt like Michael Haneke’s opening to Funny Games. What was the genesis of the video? 

Poythress: "The director Nicholas Woytuk is a friend of the band and called us after the new record dropped wanting to collaborate. Nick doesn’t come from the metal world, which we really like, because he brings a fresh cinematic point of view that’s different from what you might find in your typical metal video. He also has a team of extremely talented producers and crew around him with access to top notch camera equipment, rigging and lighting.  Normally these guys are booked solid throughout the year, but with the boredom of COVID they were all itching to get involved with some type of project and were quick to jump on board." 

"Nick’s vision from the beginning was to shoot the entire video in one take with a high speed camera. After a few entertaining Zoom casting calls searching for the right talent to beat up we locked in and made it all come to life on an old logging road in the backwoods of Mount Hood National Forest."

The cohesive theme of Cabaret of Decay seems to be the sort of cultural collapse of humanity. Is it weird that the record seems to be mirroring reality right now? 

Poythress: "That’s a thoughtful question and one that we’ve been asking ourselves a lot as the world continues to unravel around us. When  you create dark heavy metal or any sort of meaningful art, it’s all too often that the spirit and subject-matter of your work becomes realized in the world around you. Art, in that sense, is a sort of mirror revealing things about reality in an abstract kind of way.  We could have never imagined our vision for this record would become so suddenly realized in both a global deadly plague followed by revolt, civil unrest and a destabilization of society. The fallout we’re seeing now taps the very core of our creative intent with this record. There’s  something very dark about the human condition and these are the times where that darkness reflects in profound and powerful ways through music.  These are truly the moments where metal is at its most potent and relevant."

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