User:LuciferMorgan/Draft 2

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
"Eyes of the Insane"
"Eyes of the Insane" cover
Single by Slayer
from the album Christ Illusion
Released November 23, 2006
Format CD
Genre Thrash metal
Length 3:23
Label WEA International
Writer(s) Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman
Producer(s) Josh Abraham
Slayer singles chronology
"Eternal Pyre"
(2006)		 "Eyes of the Insane"
(2006)

"Eyes of the Insane" is a 2006 single by American thrash metal band Slayer, taken from their 2006 album Christ Illusion. The lyrical matter deals with a soldier's mental anguish following his return home, and is based on an article entitled "Casualty of War" featured in the Texas Monthly magazine. Penned by vocalist Tom Araya during pre-production for the album, the song was generally well received by critics upon release.

An accompaning music video was shot by Iranian director Tony Petrossian in the Los Angeles area during August 2006. The film is presented as a close up of the soldier's pupil and iris, which reflect disconcerting images of war-themed horrors, flashbacks of his home, wife and children, and ultimately images of his death. "Eyes of the Insane" was featured on the soundtrack to Saw III, and won an award for Best Metal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards.

Contents

[edit] Origins

March 2006 issue of Texas Monthly magazine, whose article entitled "Casualty of War" directly inspired "Eyes of the Insane".
March 2006 issue of Texas Monthly magazine, whose article entitled "Casualty of War" directly inspired "Eyes of the Insane".

While walking through an airport, vocalist Tom Araya came across the March 2006 issue of Texas Monthly magazine featuring a soldier's helmet on the front cover.[1] Picking up the magazine and sifting through, he stumbled upon an article entitled "Casualty of War", which interested him enough to purchase a copy.[1] The issue delved through the Texas military's involvement in the Iraq War.[2] It contained an article which, over several pages, ran an entire list of Texan soldiers who had died in the combat,[2][3] accompanied by photographs of some of the deceased. Araya later commented that the article "blew his mind".[3] A further article dealt with the soldiers anguish following their return home.[2]

Araya read the articles during his plane journey back to Los Angeles.[1] Pre-production for Slayer's ninth studio album Christ Illusion had just begun, with three day album rehearsals where producer Josh Abraham came in and listened to the band play the new material live.[1] Leaving his belongings at the hotel, Araya went to rehearsals, returned and then re-read the article.[1] Feeling the article to be "very profound", he woke up in the middle of the night and wrote the song lyrics, feeling compelled to do so.[1] Since that time Araya has hailed the subject as "a sincere topic", further stating "It's one that the military doesn't want you to know. They sweep it under the rug, but it's a story that needs to be told."[1] Guitarist Kerry King noted that "these new songs (from the Christ Illusion album) aren't political at all: "Jihad", "Eyes of the Insane" — it's what's spewing out at us from the TV."[4]

[edit] Music and structure

"Eyes of the Insane" spans 3:23 minutes.[5] Dave Lombardo's drums slowly open the track,[5] then Hanneman and King create an intensely harrowing, angular and descending riff[6] that suddenly changes direction from verse to verse,[5][6] through the refrain and bridge,[5] and comes back again.[5] The song then builds to a towering chorus.[6]

[edit] Music video

A screenshot from the music video
A screenshot from the music video

By the time Slayer decided that a music video should be filmed, touring commitments had prevented their involvement in the actual shoot.[7] Instead, others were contacted to produce the film.[7] Iranian director Tony Petrossian presented Slayer with the first draft, and the group gave a few suggestions for improvement.[8] Never having met him, King recalled Petrossian "had a treatment, and we all dug the treatment so we just turned him loose."[8] "Eyes of the Insane"'s war-themed music video was filmed on August 13, 2006 in the Los Angeles area.[9] Casting company Tolley Casparis Casting sought a male Caucasian between the ages of 18 and 26 to feature in the clip, with auditions held on August 10, 2006.[9] Official project notes deemed that "This guy must be a serious actor, capable of emoting everything through his eyes. He was innocent a few months ago, now he is scarred by seeing so much fighting. Strong eyebrows that do not ovepower the face. Scars or large veins actually a plus."[9]

A "first-person narrative about the horrors leading up to the final moments of a solder at war",[10] the video has been described as "a single, long and tight close-up of the soldier's eye with images clearly reflected within his pupil and iris and perfectly choreographed with the rhythm of the music. Reflected are disconcerting images of para trooping into enemy territory, gunfire, helicopters and tanks, explosions, poignant flashbacks of his wife and child and home, and the images of his death."[10] Two endings were shot; one where the soldier passes away as the result of sustained combat wounds, and another where the soldier commits suicide.[10] Guitarist Jeff Hanneman asserted the band "loved" the eye concept used in the video, personally feeling the video was "pretty amazing" when he first viewed it.[7] King stated "It's pretty cool--I thought it was neat idea--very different, especially for us, because we usually do performance based videos."[8] The video was posted online in late October 2006 at exclusively mp3.com.[10]

[edit] Critical response

Music sample:

Critics were generally positive towards "Eyes of the Insane". Stylus Magazine's Cosmo Lee described the track as "a dark, midpaced exploration of a soldier's psyche", saying "it's memorable and would be a good breather between the usual barnburners."[12] Peter Atkinson of KNAC.com felt that "Eyes of the Insane" offers a post-traumatic sequel to "Mandatory Suicide", again with a soundtrack that recalls the original, but boasting a couple truly mammoth hooks that do shake things up."[13] Don Kaye of Blabbermouth drew comparisons to a different Slayer track than Atkinson, and commented that ""Eyes of the Insane" and "Catatonic" have that slow, grinding feeling of doom that the band has done so well before on classics like "Dead Skin Mask"."[14]

The song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 49th annual Grammy Awards.[15] When asked for his thoughts on the nomination, King revealed that he didn't "even care", and noted that Slayer fans "don't give a shit and that's the most important thing to me."[16] The interviewer expressed his surprise at the nomination given Slayer's "inflammatory" lyrics, to which King replied "That would be the coolest thing, you know? To win with the shit we write about."[16] The ceremony was held on February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, with Slayer competing against Mastodon, Lamb of God, Ministry and Stone Sour.[17] Slayer won the Best Metal Performance Grammy award, though the band was unable to attend as the result of a conflicting North American headlining tour.[17] Araya commented about the win from a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio: "Jeff [Hanneman] and I put a lot into "Eyes of the Insane" so we're thrilled that the Grammy voters took the time to listen to it, and then vote for it. We're out here on the road and we're all really, really happy."[17] King disagreed, deeming the song "one of the poorest representations of us (Slayer) on the record (Christ Illusion)".[11] He further stated that if given the decision, he would have personally chosen the controversial track "Jihad" to represent Slayer from ninth album Christ Illusion.[11] Critical of the Recording Academy, King quipped; "Realistically, I think people on the academy who vote pick the household name," "And that's what we are."[11]

The soundtrack to 2006 horror flick Saw III featured "Eyes of the Insane" amongst its tracks, and was released on October 24, 2006 via Warcon Enterprises.[18]

[edit] Formats and tracklistings

EU CD single 1[19]
  1. "Eyes of the Insane" (album version)
  2. "Eyes of the Insane" (live version)
EU CD single 2[19]
  1. "Eyes of the Insane" (album version)
  2. "Cult" (live)
  3. "Reborn" (live In New York 1986) (enhanced video)
7" Colored Vinyl[19]
  1. "Eyes of the Insane" (album version)
  2. "Cult" (live)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Claes, Sean (2006). "Slayer". Blistering.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  2. ^ a b c Atkinson, Peter (2006-05-03). Songs About God and Satan - Part 2: An Interview With Slayer's Tom Araya. KNAC.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
  3. ^ a b Harris, Chris (2006-04-20). "New Slayer Album Might Be Their Fastest Yet". MTV.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  4. ^ Beck, Aaron (2007-02-10). After 25 years, Slayer keeps casting metal. The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  5. ^ a b c d e Jurek, Thom. All Music Guide Review - Christ Illusion. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  6. ^ a b c Begrand, Adrien. Christ Illusion - Review. Popmatters. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
  7. ^ a b c Lahtinen, Lexi (2006-12-18). SLAYER - Jeff Hanneman. Metal-rules.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
  8. ^ a b c Butler, Roya. Slayer. Truepunk.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  9. ^ a b c SLAYER: 'Eyes Of The Insane' Video Shoot To Take Place This Sunday. Blabbermouth.net (2006-08-09). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  10. ^ a b c d SLAYER: 'Eyes Of The Insane' Video Posted Online. Blabbermouth.net (2006-10-30). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  11. ^ a b c d Piccoli, Sean. "Grammy for Slayer's 11th album shows metal legends are now a household name", Sun-Sentinel.com, 2007-02-21.
  12. ^ Lee, Cosmo. Christ Illusion - Review. Stylus Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
  13. ^ Atkinson, Peter (2006-07-24). KNAC Review - Christ Illusion. KNAC.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  14. ^ Kaye, Don. Blabbermouth Review - Christ Illusion. Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  15. ^ SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD, STONE SOUR Among GRAMMY Nominees. Blabbermouth.net (2006-12-07). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  16. ^ a b Foxworthy, John (2006-12-24). Interview With Slayer's Kerry King. Garage Radio Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  17. ^ a b c SLAYER Wins GRAMMY In 'Best Metal Performance' Category. Blabbermouth.net (2007-02-11). Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
  18. ^ SLAYER, EIGHTEEN VISIONS, LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON Featured On 'Saw III' Soundtrack. Blabbermouth.net (2006-09-14). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  19. ^ a b c SLAYER: 'Eyes Of The Insane' Single Due In November. Blabbermouth.net (2006-10-24). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/u/c/User%7ELuciferMorgan_Draft_2_7731.html"