Old-school dark industrial music produces some talented new graduates, as in the horrifying, awesome music video Ilsandra In Ruin by the group MMK, directed by Stefan Fernandez. Photographed in black and white by Christofer Fernandez, the video opens with a gaping mouth opening wide to reveal a black castle. There are crosses, skulls impaled on branches, and a black silhouette writhes deep in the woods. Teeth gnash as bolts are screwed into gums, and blood runs in reverse. Grease-covered gears turn, and hammers keep coming down hard on black nails. An old 19th-century paper with “Observations of Devils” printed on it bursts into flame, with corrugated metal tubes spiraling through the darkness. And as an extra special treat, someone’s dick is cut off repeatedly.
“…the video opens with a gaping mouth opening wide to reveal a black castle.”
When I met my wife of 30 years, she was a fan of the industrial group Skinny Puppy. I was a Coil man myself, and decades later, we still dance on weekends at the Surly Wench to this kind of music. So I can vouch that MMK’s song Ilsandra In Ruin is true to the rusted roots of the genre, with plenty of bang to keep the torch burning. The video for the song is a huge achievement in its own right, miraculously taking the tunes even darker. Videos for industrial music in the last century were usually located on the bloodier end of the cutting edge. This takes that cutting edge and saws through your forehead with it, taking out a few dicks on the way. I liked the dick lopping in the video because it isolated the shock factor into a gleaming tower, jutting up from genuinely creepy imagery.
Music videos are a lot like songs in that they use motifs that are repeated to keep viewers’ attention. What is unique to Fernandez’s editing of his visuals is that he builds the atmosphere through repetition, increasing the mystery with each return. And the incredible monochrome cinematography brings a sinister sophistication to the nightmare visions. Both the hardcore industrial folk and the casual gothic bunch will enjoy this rhapsody in black immensely. If Ilsandra In Ruin sounds like something you might like, you are going to love it.
"…the incredible monochrome cinematography brings a sinister sophistication to the nightmare visions."
