The video for Lamb of God's song "Overlord" is a concept-based video that tells a narrative through visuals that relate to the song's lyrics. It depicts two main characters who appear haunted by something they committed, representing the singer Randy Blythe's experience with manslaughter charges. The black-and-white visuals and changes in the music match moments of tension and violence in the characters' visions. Intertextual references connect it to Lamb of God's prior "512" video through shared characters. The video uses the visuals and music to explore themes of dealing with past mistakes and becoming absorbed in technology rather than real-world issues.

1. Music Video Analysis
LAMB OF GOD - OVERLORD

2. Genre Characteristics
• Lamb Of God are widely seen as fitting into the genre of Groove Metal, with
aspects of Thrash and Death Metal, shown mainly through the heavy
melodic guitar tone and harsh vocals, that along with darker lyrical styling.
• Generally with any Metal Subgenre you expect to see darker clothing, long
hair, fast paced drums and down tuned guitars. Lamb Of God's older music
videos really played with taking the seriousness out of Metal with them
creating videos like Redneck and Ruin directed to make comedy of the
stereotypical aspects of Modern Metal Bands.
• The video in question, for the track Overlord, released this year in mid
2015, steps out of Lamb Of God's general styling. With a far more artistic
approach to the songs lyrics and ideals, but of course the horror and typical
shock factor remains. Randy, the vocalist, along with the other band
members sport the typical but refined clothing style that Metalheads will
recognize. The generally dark clothing and camouflage shorts are something
seen throughout this genre and metal in general.
• This video like many others in the genre show the band playing in a typical
live arrangement, with parts of the video cutting into story line that is
designed to visualize the lyrics. This is seen through a lot of videos in this
genre, with many alternative topics being represented.

3. What is the relationship between
the lyrics and the visuals?
• Within the video we see two main characters who appeared to plagued by
something the have committed to. From the seeing videos from other tracks
in the album relates to murder. After Randy’s 2012 arrest in Prague due to
an accident where a fan as pushed off stage and unfortunately died later in
hospital. Many believe that the lyrics and visuals represent how the fact
that he’d committed manslaughter affected his mind and how he felt during
his time in the prison cell in Prague. He was eventually cleared of all
charges by the parents of the young man who sadly died.
• The cell phones that the main characters are using during many of the clips
represent how the media and artificial knowledge can affect our ideas and
opinions on real life events.
• We see that as the main character walks down a dark street he passes by
two people beating what appears to be another person laying on the ground,
perhaps this is what’s going on inside his head? The lyrics “You will destroy
you..Distorted..tore yourself in two..Your will absorbed you..you can't ignore
you anymore” seem to speak of a battle between himself and his mind. The
fact that he’s battling against what he has done.
• The whole video is displayed in black and white, giving it a dark tone.
Suprisingly all the characters are dressed in casual clothing which suggests
that the character is playing the events off as nothing trying to force it out
of his mind, but wherever he goes it’s always there to confront him. At home
or out on the street.

4. What is the relationship between
the music and the visuals?
• Within this song Lamb Of God have really structured the video around the
changes in rhythm and gain from the guitars. During the first scene the
vocals and guitar tone is very quiet and relaxed, but still remains edgy.
• As the main character turns around to face his, we assume “girlfriend, the
song pauses and the guitars become heavier as the song breaks down into a
typically “Lamb Of God” riff. This clearly represents his mind changing as
he turns around to see her, the scene then cuts to where we see what must
be visions in his head of people who appear distraught.
• As the song continues we see the scene where three people are fighting in
the street, he walks past as if this is natural to him. As if he is trying to
ignore it, but every now and then the memory of what he has done comes
back to haunt him. During these “visions” the music changes to match the
visuals with intense scenes having heavier more melodic riffs.
• As the solo kicks in 2:48 we start to see how this is affecting the other
female character who appears to know about the events going on. Towards
the end of the video we see them walking towards each other completely
absorbed in their phones. The collide with each other and start arguing, the
riffs change to much more regular beat, as if leading to something.

5. Are there close-ups of the artist and
star image motifs?
• During the first part where we see Randy singing clean vocals for the first
time. We are immediately met by his shirt and hairstyle, both of which
suggest a alternative attitude. His shirt “I still buy records” whilst having
nothing to do with the song or video shows that he still supports music
formats that many believe should be brought back into mainstream culture.
His hair not quite dreads not quite straight. Many would look at him and
have a completely different first opinion to who he really is. This is shown
throughout all of the band members with nearly all sporting different
hairstyles that aren’t always stereotypical to the Metal genre.
• The black and white theme is something many can relate to Randy’s
photography, something he has only recently introduced. Many of his
images are in this high contrast black and white style we see represented
within the video. This is something new to Lamb Of God’s style but we can
imagine this will be shown throughout future videos to be created.
• Usually the idea of a continuous representation, for example a specific style
or video theme is usually rare within metal as most metal artists change
and improve there style, as they continue to create albums. For example if
we look at the video for 512 which is in full colour, the video structure is
very different but some aspects are carried across like some of the
characters and in particular the unknown character. (Seen to the left of the
female character)

6. Is there reference to notion of
looking – voyeurism?
• During the video for Overlord there are a few female characters.
Unlike the video for their song Redneck, where female models are
used to emphasize the bands wealth and power, the video in
question has no real suggestions that the female roles are any less
equal than the men's.
• Comparing most Metal music videos to the mainstream music
videos we see today, they have a far more equal look and opinion on
gender. Metal is all about the individual, it was born out of those
who wanted to break the code society places upon us. Bands like
Kiss and the Sex Pistols who created content that was unheard of
back when Metal was seen almost like a sin.

7. Are there any intertextual
references?
• As mentioned in a previous slide the video for Overlord and the
video for 512 share characters, in particular this unknown
character (seen to the right).
• Much like 512 the characters are in very similar situations where a
murder has suspected violent act has taken place. Randy stated
that both videos were directed to show those who are self obsessed
with their own problems can not see the bigger picture. Having a
bad day at work does not constitute to a real emergency.

8. Is it performance based, narrative
base or concept based?
• Overlord is a blatant Concept based video, with a small amount of
performance. We see Lamb Of God performing in parts of the video
where Randy is singing. With small cuts to close-ups during guitar
solos and important sequences.
• As for the concept based portion, the “story” within the video is
entirely based on Randy’s opinion on those who fail to see past
every little issue in their life's, and as a result they don’t see how
our world is slowly falling to pieces with everyday that goes by. This
idea is very difficult to see unless you’re aware of Randy’s
imprisonment, which made him see everyday problems in a
different light.