Survival – “Tragedy Of The Mind” (Official Music Video)

Sometimes a good music video does just one thing really, really well. That’s the case with the Eric Wren-directed video for Survival’s “Tragedy Of The Mind.” Survival are the new and old band of Liturgy frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, and it’s hard not to get excited for their debut album with every new song we’ve heard. The video for “Tragedy” is so simple (a single unmoving shot) yet its execution is as powerful as the music. Starting with a flaming mic cable, the band’s instruments are thrown one by one into a growing fire while occasional streams of gas help it grow; nothing else happens, and nothing else needs to happen.

Survival are a much more psychedelic band than Liturgy, and here they are perfectly complemented by these hypnotic flames. Guitars are smashed and burned; drumheads melt and peel apart. In a moment of (seemingly) natural chance a floor tom falls in a way so that we can see smoke building up and collecting inside — until the flames explode and shoot through like a fucking cannon. It’s a video that perfectly captures this band at this moment.