Baby Boomers all remember the Marching Hammers from the 1982 Film Pink Floyd – The Wall, based off of the Pink Floyd album of the same name. That damn sequence gave me nightmares when I was a kid. I often wondered why there are no more great musically animated sequences like that anymore. Well, I decided the scour the internet and I found out there’s lots of edgy animation out there set to music, you just have to look a bit harder nowadays to find it.
10. Frenzal Rhomb – When My Baby Smiles at Me I Go to Rehab (2011)
The Band: Frenzal Rhomb is a clever pop-punk band from Australia. Despite being around for over 20 years, they have only flirted with mainstream success. They’re not as hard as most of the other bands below, but since 1999’s A Man’s Not A Camel release, Frenzel Rhomb gets on this list based on the special place in my heart that they occupy.
The Animators: IMOV Studios
9. Mastodon- Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife (2007)
The Band: Off of the underrated Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Soundtrack, Mastadon flat out crushes it. The rest of the movie? It is unfathomable to me how such a great series translated so poorly to the big screen.
The Animators: Williams Street (Adult Swim)
8. Big Grams - Born to Shine/Run for Your Life (2015)
The Band: Big Grams is a collaboration between Big Boi of Outkast fame and the band Phantogram. Big Grams has only released one EP which has been met with mostly mixed reviews. Apparently they haven’t seen the video which captures the essence of the double single so beautifully.
The Animators: Awesome Inc. (Adult Swim)
7. Blind Myself - Lost in Time (2008)
The Band: You haven’t heard of Blind Myself? They’re only one of the biggest metal bands from Hungary that there is! Actually, when you google Hungarian Metal, Blind Myself is only one of 2 bands that I recognize. Enough snarky comments, this video is awesome.
The Animator: Balazs Grof (www.grofbalazs.hu)
6. Vitamin X – About to Crack (2012)
The Band: Vitamin X is a punk band from the Netherlands which is about to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. With over a dozen studio efforts and EP’s combined, About to Crack is the lead single from the album of the same name. The video came out in 2016.
The Animators: IMOV Studios
5. High on Fire – The Black Plot (2015)
The Band: High on Fire made it onto my radar with the incredibly intense video Rumors of War in 2007. Since then, their next three albums Snakes for the Divine, De Vermis Mysteriis, and Luminiferous have all been Top 5 on the Hard Rock Album charts. The Video for the Black Plot came out in 2016
The Animators: Skinner and Hey Beautiful Jerk
4. Reproach – Onward to Destruction (2012)
The Band: Reproach is an obscure Hardcore band that have been grinding their way across Europe over the past decade. Okay, let me re-phrase that, obscure in the United States….wait, they’re obscure in their homeland of Belgium too?
Let’s start again. The pride of Ghent, Belgium, here’s Reproach.
The Animators: IMOV Studios
3. Municipal Waste – You’re Cut Off (2012)
The Band: Municipal Waste is one of the new wave of thrash bands that have sprung up over the past decade. Straight from the bowels of Richmond Virginia, Municipal Waste is currently working on their follow up to 2012’s The Fatal Feast. Too hard for radio, Municipal Waste covers the musical space right between Anthrax and D.R.I.
Note: There was a bit of controversy in relation to the band’s 2016 Concert t-shirt. Some people loved it, some people hated it. All I know is that the shirt was on my trending feeds ticker the day after Election Day.
The Animators: IMOV Studios
2. Dethklok –Awaken (2007)
The Band: Only the second greatest animated band ever (according to me), Dethklok is the hardest, and most popular, band on the planet in the cartoon series Metalacolypse. Hell, Dethklok is one of the hardest bands on the planet in real life. The brain-child of Brandon Small, Awaken captures the band in all of its head-banging splendor.
The Animators: Titmouse, Inc. (in collaboration w/Williams Street)
1. Toxic Holocaust – Acid Fuzz (2013)
The Band: If you looked up thrash metal in the dictionary in 1983, it said Kill ‘Em All by Metallica. If you look it up in 2016, it should say Joel Grind’s Toxic Holocaust. Just a warning, if you’re young and impressionable, I guarantee you that this video will burn a scar into the inner folds of your brain.
The Animator: Adam Avilla