Reported Failure have dominated music video charts in the past. It's been months since they released a video, but now what they've been working on for months is finally complete and being released. The video is "the most fucking epic thing we've ever done" says Vin Peters. The video is for the song 6771, the first song off of the band's album Darkness which is set for release next month. The song has been released but not as a single which makes it an unconventional choice to make a music video out of, but Reported Failure are certainly an unconventional band. The music video had the largest budget of any music video the band has made. More was spent making this concept video than all their other videos combined making it one of the most expensive videos in recent years in the music industry. Without further ado the video for 6771.
6771 Official Video
The video begins with a single mirror. Violins are playing in the background but it isn't the intro to the song; it is a dark, moody melody. In the mirror faces begin to appear. First the faces of Reported Failure, but then more faces. They go quickly changing from face to face and from emotion to emotion. Then a voice begins. The voice was coming from the mirror and the ever changing faces were the ones speaking. "Have you ever imagined the world if you'd never been born?" they asked. "A world where you and everyone you know never walked this earth. Or maybe a world where the earth itself doesn't seem to exist. Every thought anyone ever had was gone. But what if all of that was gone and just you remained. Every thought you had moved faster than the speed of light so that the light could never catch up to you. You lived in the darkness as if not caring how your story ended and feeling entirely alone and empty. You were the world and you were broken. This is how the darkness begins". The voice faded and in its place there where whispers. Whispers and screams as the faces shot through the mirror.
Suddenly it all faded. The noise faded as the screen faded to black. The screen was lit by a single match. The voice returned and daringly asked "But what if you could turn on a light? What would you see?". At this point the noise explodes into heavy metal with guitars shredding all over the place drums smashing and a dominant scream just as the screen lights up fully to reveal Billie. This still isn't the song as heard on the record. Billie is revealed to be drowning in water. His hands are bound but he isn't struggling.
The noise fades replaced finally by the intro to the album version of 6771 as Billie starts singing while still underwater. at this point it is made clear that Billie is completely calm under the water. He is relaxed as if just waiting for water to fill his lungs in an act of desperation towards imminent death. But very suddenly arms come into the water and Billie is yanked out. Out of the water a scene is reveled. It is a deadly mob. Police and protesters are clashing right and left. They all begin singing the darkness chorus's part of the song.
"Let's emulate
The god damn kings
Fly so high were out of oxygen
There's freedom in misunderstood flight!
Where's his old home?
On the ledge there
No he'll never be there again
No he'll never see peace again"
Very suddenly Billie begins to run. He runs through the mob. There is a very large building. The largest around. It looks ancient and crumbling. It's massive towers are cracked; it's pillars are all chipped. Billie runs into it and begins climbing stars. Very suddenly a man in old fashioned clothing stops him. He is dressed in revolutionary war era apparel and bares striking resemblance to George Washington. He grabs Billie by the neck choking him and begins to sing the transition section of the song. Billie struggles and manages to free himself. The two fight. Punches are thrown but it is to no use because the building begins to collapse. It crumbles and the two of them begin to run as the building crumbles and the first chorus to the song rages on.
"Born into a cult of glorified Scientologists
I've held the keys to your hopes and dreams
Manipulated by fear, I could fall at any moment
I am fought for and died for
I am beaten and wounded
In this new land I exist for a mere two centuries
In a lust of flawed philosophies it's the beginning of the end
In the darkness I run for my life
The end is coming
The end is coming (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
The end is coming (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I love you so (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I love you so (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I spill my secrets to you
In the darkness I call
For this to be heaven
To make sense of it all"
Somehow Billie is able to make it out of the rubble alive and continues to run. He continues to try to find safety as he sings the second verse. He runs through the mob; he finds a sidestreet and runs along a brick wall; this ends there is more chaos with police and masses of civilians everywhere as the second chorus is played.
"Let's climb the mountaintop
So we can see all we've done
Crowning achievements
From hell and beyond
I know its out there
Facade like hope
The end is coming (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
The end is coming (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I love you so (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I love you so (Hallelujah, Hallelujah)
I spill my secrets to you
In the darkness I call
For this to be heaven
To make sense of it all"
At this point walls begin closing in. It seems there is nowhere to run. In the streets people run madly and Billie is right in the middle of it. Protesters in the background are being beaten by police. People are knocked down and bleeding. Suddenly Billie falls as the outro begins. The screaming and guitar solo rage on as Billie is slowly trampled by the crowd screaming. He coughs up blood struggling to get up, but he cant. Suddenly all the noise stops as there is a break and the voice begins again "If this is what's in the light maybe darkness is better?" and then the outro continues until it's end in which lying on the ground Billie continues to struggle and the video ends.
"It's not all as it seems! [Repeated]"
