Genre
As this song is classed as ‘Freak Metal’ (along with most
of System of a Down’s music), it mainly follows the conventions seen in metal
and rock music. The most obvious of which would be the fact that it is
showcasing the band playing at a concert in front of a large crowd on stage.
They also have used the image of a stereotypical person that would listen to
metal music: tattoos, piercings, odd hairstyles, angry, likes to fight. They
have also used interesting CGI effects in post-production to phase different
members of the band through each other in the chorus’. This helps to emphasize
the fact that it is ‘Freak Metal’ by putting something extremely out of the
ordinary in the video.
Narrative
The video does not have much of a narrative as such as
there is not a particular storyline to follow; it is mainly showcasing the band
playing at the concert. Although some parts of the video may have been used to
emphasise some of the lyrics.
For example, on the line “Hide the scars to fade away the
shake-up”, some of the band member briefly disappear multiple times, possibly
linking to “Hide the scars……”.
On the line “I cry…….”, the singer can be seen eating
food with others in the background, all with depressed looks on their face, as
if they need to cry.
On the last line “When angels deserve to die”, it can be
seen that the band is no longer there, having a lyrical link between the end of
the concert and death.
Representation
As the video is mainly focused on men, with women only briefly appearing
in the crowd scenes, this could be challenging the idea of equality between
both genders. However, stereotypically in media texts, it is usually shown as
men being the dominating sex, a convention which has been followed in the
video.
