Timothy Saccenti directs a super-intense performance promo for Metallica. Following the hypnotic promo for Lux Æterna - also directed by Saccenti - that was released at the end of 2022, the video for Screaming Suicide is more of an intimate portrait of the band, focusing on their performance in a simple yet striking way. The energy is electric, as to be expected, and the gritty black and white aesthetic gives the whole thing a grungy, minacious feel.

Joseph Wilson directs a cinematic, eerily surreal promo for Patrick Wolf, the second part of an extended film for the artist's new EP, The Night Safari. Following Enter The Day - the romantic and wistful first instalment of Wilson's longer film - the video for Nowhere Game is defiant and thrilling, with a stark, brutalist aesthetic of the video that complements the complex soundscapes in the track.Shot within the extraordinary Beacon Hill Fort on the Essex coast, Wolf enters the imposing edifice by boat, to be confronted by 'Nowhere People' - dancers attired in outfits that give them an uncanny inhuman appearance, that were designed by Wolf himself with Marco Tullio Siviglia.The story was inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus, and Wilson worked with movement director Ted Rogers to direct the performers - or the ‘gloms’ as Wilson and Wolf named them - to develop their own metaphor for breaking the cycle of endless toil."Patrick spoke about how he had learnt to let go of his resentments, lifting a great weight of his shoulders," explains Wilson. "So the idea was that the ‘gloms’ were pulling around their resentments - which start off as small pieces of coal - and develop into large heavy boarders as the story goes on."Being approached to collaborate with Patrick Wolf on the project on this and the longer film to accompany the new EP "was a ‘pinch yourself’ sort of moment," according to Wilson. "I used to listen to Patrick at college before I came out, and had been to a couple of his London shows when I was 17. I saw a lot of myself in Patrick and he gave me hope that there were other people like me out there."So to be working with him all these years later is very poignant for me. Aside from our creative vision, we share a lot of similarities growing up as outsiders, and both overcoming our own traumas through the pandemic. "I had come across Beacon Hill Fort a few years ago - [and] I’d been saving it for the perfect project. Located at the very edge of a quiet coastal town in Essex, the cold concrete structures and its prolific history of war, battle and invasion created the perfect setting for the Nowhere Game. Many of the cast and crew were lifelong Patrick fans, which made the shoot feel even more worthwhile."I remember looking up to the sky and seeing a dozen shooting stars as the performers pulled rocks around Patrick whilst he played the viola. It was such a moment! Regardless of the fact there was no electricity, and it was the coldest day of 2022! It was all worth it.”

LA-based director Alfredo Vidal helms a stylish thriller for Seattle electronic duo Ghost Gun, where a girl working for a crime outfit plays a dangerous game.Vidal establishes a richly cinematic atmosphere for this fastmoving story of duplicity and love in the criminal underworld, with a standout performance by Kyla Dyan as the girl trying to stay ahead of the pack. And Ghost Gun's intense Venom provides the ideal soundtrack.

Georgia Hudson returns to music videos to pull out all the stops for P!nk's old school banger Trustfall, the title track from the US superstar's new album.It's a cinematic epic in keeping with P!nk's huge (and hugely consistent) body of work over the past two-plus decades - where the artist plays indominatable super-guardian to a new generation of kids who need the belief to find their wings. And of course they do, over a series of beautifully realised set-ups across LA cityscapes, in suburbia and on beachside highways - and terrific wirework too.With sumptuous cinematography of Gaul Porat and visceral choreography from Ryan Heffington, it is above all a glorious return to the medium by Georgia Hudson - reminiscent of her last collab with P!nk, for What About Us, five years ago - and also co-produced by the team now known as MrMr - Katie Lambert and Martha McGuirk.Fist-pumping, big screen stuff. Now they just need to bring back proper MTV.

Quentin Deronzier directs an extraordinary promo for The Weeknd, to tie-in with his official track for Avatar: The Way of Water. The cinematic visual was completely shot and post-produced between Thailand and LA, using no footage at all from the James Cameron's record-breaking movie - which makes this even more of an impressive feat. The world of Avatar is brought to life through fascinating cinematography, action-packed vignettes and stunning, effervescent lighting, resulting in environments as otherworldly as those in the film. Completely breathtaking and trippy throughout, it's a beautiful complement to the music.

James Lewis explores the cyclical nature of violence and its demeaning effects in his gritty video for electronic act The Pressure.Like a neo-noir on fast forward, the video for Reason is the turbo-charged narrative of an ordinary man recruited to become a participant in an underground fight, charting his descent into darkness.Shot exclusively handheld on 16mm film in gritty locations by DoP Jacob Robinson, with an intense and riveting edit by Ben Cowan, Lewis brings urgency, unpredictability and urban texture to his morality tale with a twist.

Dylan Friese-Greene directs the video for Cian Ducrot's I'll Be Waiting - the poignant story of two children of separated parents expecting their absent father to collect them for a day out. They are waiting - but will he show up?Friese-Greene sets the story in an undefined past, a time of home phones and answering machine messages, giving the sense that he is recalling Ducrot's own personal experience - intensified by him performing the song from the same family home.Stephen Dunn's nostalgic cinematography is among the contributions that make the Friese-Greene's latest video a accomplished work.

Lewis Cater directs a minacious promo for Shinedown, where under the ominous surveillance of an unspecified evil, the US rock band look fear straight in the eye. The video for Dead Don't Die jumps between a rowdy performance section in an ornate structure, and enigmatic vignettes with frontman Brett, where various weapons and objects hang mid-air, threatening to break through and injure him - but unable to do so.It's a thrilling addition to both the band and Cater's videography, and packed full of filmic moments and great performances. "We shot the video for Dead Don’t Die straight after the band’s Wembley headline show last month," Cater says. "It was a special shoot as it was the first time that the band had shot a video outside of United States."It’s a video about resilience, the strong-willed, the bend but never break human spirit. The power of the mind is extraordinary. The band use their strength within to control the darkness and retreat to a more positive space."We follow Brent (Shinedown's frontman) as he is pursued by an unspecified evil. He passes by each band member as they use their energy to control a moment of wickedness. Brent is then confronted. Using MoCo, we had bullets build up around Brent. The power of his mind pushes to the forefront as the bullets are suspended. After overcoming each of their obstacles, the band are united for one final test."