You’ve gotta hand it to them, they’re not pulling any punches. Having unveiled arguably the most controversial album art of 2015 back in April, Aussie deathcore outfit Thy Art Is Murder have now unveiled their very graphic music video for the LP’s eponymous single, ‘Holy War’.
As Tone Deaf previously reported, the uncensored version of the Holy War album art depicts a small child dressed in a hooded cloak, splattered with blood, with an explosive device strapped to their torso. The censored version, meanwhile, features a closeup of the child’s obscured face.
The controversial artwork triggered a dispute between the band and “distributors and retailers”, who requested it be changed. “Not wanting to alter our desired cover in any way shape or form, we opted to contain it within the album packaging and roll with one of the other images from the layout,” said guitarist Andy Marsh.
“We wanted Holy War to be our most confronting release to date,” he explained. “From the moment the album title was conceived and the lyrics were born we had a distinct vision that the album cover artwork must be equally as confronting, as scary, and as real as what we are about as a band.”
No doubt the ‘Holy War’ music video will cement the band’s position as one of the most controversial bands in the country.
The clip features numerous visual references to religious extremism, including a child-aged suicide bomber and a man dressed in the style of an Islamist militant performing a beheading.
There’s also references to the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the US’ water-boarding of terrorism suspects, and the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse case.
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The band are also shown with their eyes and mouths sewn shut, possibly as a reference to Manus Island asylum seekers who sewed their mouths shut in protest of prison conditions or to a controversial fake photo which purported to a show a girl who’d had her mouth and eye sewn shut by Islamic extremists.
In a statement, Marsh explained that the album is about the detrimental impacts of religion. “Here it is in all its magnificent glory, a child for every religion that has indoctrinated the young and disadvantaged, and sent them off to war and bloody death without cause or reason. This album is for them,” he said.
Readers can check out the band’s incendiary clip below. Like it or not, it’s definitely working for the band – it’s amassed an incredible 10,000 views since we first saw it and publication.
