Behind the Video: "Morrigan" by Children of Bodom : Song Writing

In our interview with Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho, he explained that "Morrigan," from their 2015 album I Worship Chaos, has a very specific meaning: It's about a guy who falls in love with a goddess from the underworld. Laiho calls it "a very dark and twisted love song."

For the video, they went big, playing out the storyline in a striking landscape with three main characters: Morrigan, the mortal man in love with her, and his inner demon. (Something you should know about Morrigan: she's a shape-shifter who is known to take the form of a crow.) It's a very ambitious production that feels expansive - something you can't create in a studio.

To make the video, the band turned to the Swedish production team rEvolver and director Patric Ullaeus, whose clients include In Flames ("Take This Life," "Through Oblivion"), Arch Enemy ("War Eternal," "You Will Know My Name") and Within Temptation ("Mother Earth," "Whole World is Watching"). Here, Patric takes us behind the video.

The last time I worked with CoB we did great stuff together. "Trashed, Lost & Strungout" was Gold awarded and the Chaos Ridden Years Stockholm Knockout Live DVD was also Gold awarded. So after all these years it was a great pleasure to get to do their video again. The band decided not to be in the video. They wanted to tell the story about the warrior goddess Morrigan and together with the band we made this tale about a man fighting his inner demons.

The story is about a man stepping into a dark place where the demons of the past are taking over his life and he becomes a prisoner of his own mind. He doesn't know where to go; it feels like he is drowning and falling into the abyss. The desert represents his empty existence and he desperately wants to get out. When he does get out, he needs to confront his biggest enemy, his demon inside.

He engages in battle and just when you think he can't win, just when you think evil will take over, Morrigan saves his life. She gives him the tools to conquer his fears and destroy his enemy. But does the help he gets from her come with a price? You decide...

The video was filmed on location in Sweden and in the USA. A complex shoot including stunts, greenscreen and special effects. Helicopter, high speed cameras, drones and underwater equipment. Post production with many FX shots.

We had the privilege to work with the talented pro MMA fighter Viktor Larson to play our lead character and he did a fantastic job - just back from Thailand and a big win in the MMA world. Otman Boujrad from the Swedish National Thai boxing team did the role as the inner demon. These two guys did a fantastic job. As Morrigan we had the international model that goes under the name Fanny.

The rEvolver Team worked for more then three weeks on this project and we are very proud of it. Personally I prefer having the band/artist in the video, but that was not for me to decide. Now after three days the video already has more then 100,000 views on YouTube and Facebook so CoB are back and I hope that they get another Gold record.

September 28, 2015.
See more from Patric at revolver.se.

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