The Chemical Brothers almost never show up in their own videos, so maybe that's why they don't get mentioned often enough on the list of the all-time great music video artists. But they belong on that list. For decades now, the Chems' thumping, squiggling dance music has worked as a backdrop for some truly memorable visuals. The Chems just released the new album No Geography a couple of months ago, and they've already made truly excellent videos for early tracks like "Free Yourself" and "We've Got To Try." And today, they've got a new one for "Eve Of Destruction."
"Eve Of Destruction" has nothing to do with the historically important 1965 Barry McGuire folk-rock hit of the same name. Instead, the hard-thumping track is the opener from No Geography. For its video, regular Chemical Brothers collaborators Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall have come up with a Power Rangers-esque martial-arts battle between a caped, helmeted superhero and a succession of goofy-looking kaiju.
It's obviously always going to be fun to watch the lady version of Evel Knievel take on a bunch of rubber-suited monsters. But the real joy of the "Eve Of Destruction" video is in the editing. Every drum hit seems to correspond with a kick or a dramatic pose or something. It's a joy to behold, and you can behold it below.
No Geography is out now on Astralwerks.
