There's call of duty, there's suffering for your art - and then there's Mads Damsgaard Kristiansen, the singing half of Reptile Youth, getting marmalized for real by a pro Thai boxer in the band's video for Above directed by Lasse Martinussen.

This remarkable spectacle provides the climax of an opaque narrative involving both parties, a rich, old puppet-master, Mads' bandmate Esben, and most importantly, the beautiful courtesan who is inevitably the reason for the big kerfuffle. Powerful stuff - for a song that merits the effort. 

LASSE MARTINUSSEN:

“The video is the result of my very first confrontation with the band years ago, where I witnessed one of their early shows. I heard about their crazy shows in China just before the show, so they already had this strange, almost ancient, mythology around them. The lead singer was beyond performing; almost sacrificing himself to his biggest belief, while the guy in the background was hypnotizing through the music. It was something I never experienced before, something tremendous, sexy, epic, violent and something I had to pursue. I tried to do with the video, what the performance did to me that night.”

"A 'fun fact' is that Mads, the lead singer, actually did fight against the pro Thai boxer for real. He took some serious hits and kicks in the head as well. We continued until Mads said that he couldn't do it no more, he was knocked out four times total. We needed the right look in his eyes; the fear, the concentration, and the mental confusion of taking hits and being knocked out."