Sepultura have debuted the official music video for their track “Phantom Self”. Guitarist Andreas Kisser said of the Mauricio Eça-directed clip:

‘Phantom Self‘ starts with a short intro based on the Brazilian rhythm ‘Maracatú’, original from the Northeast region of Brazil. We mixed this very Brazilian sound with violins performed by a Tunisian violin ensemble, the Myriad Orchestra. This was a suggestion from Jens Bogren, the producer of the album, who worked with this orchestra before and he thought it could be a nice combination. We used the violins on different parts of the song and that opened a lot of new possibilities, specially for my guitar parts, it was great to have that conversation between guitar and violins making the part even more special. It’s a very heavy song, with a lot of groove, one of the most complete songs we ever worked with and it’s taking Sepultura to a new level!”

Vocalist Derrick Green adds:

“The lyrical idea came from an article that Andreas sent me. It was about a young man who had everything going for him and unfortunately was in a horrific car accident in the 70’s. After the accident he lost his entire idea of who he was. No one could figure out what was going on inside his mind. He would have glimpses of his former self but doctors realized that chemical elements of his mind had shifted. He had become an entirely different person within himself. There is this element of change that exists within all of us. This ability is important for our evolution as human beings to move forward even after traumatic events.”

The group’s new album Machine Messiah is due in stores on January 13th through Nuclear Blast. Secure your copy ahead of the album’s release at the the label and Amazon.