A horror film motif is exactly what you’d expect from a horror metal band’s first video. So it’s no surprise that the all-star Terror Universal’s “Dig You A Hole,” premiering exclusively below, has plenty of bloody plot twists over the course of its four and a half minutes.
“It’s like a mini-thriller video,” Terror Universal drummer Dave Chavarri, who does double duty as part of Ill Nino, tells Billboard about the clip, made by Film Facer production. “It’s about a psychologist or someone who’s manipulating his victims into doing the killing for him, about how he manipulates a person to do the dirty work — a serial killer type of vibe. And he gets (the victims) to dig their own hole. The whole thing is just really disturbed and pretty ugly and grotesque at times — which is exactly what we wanted. I really dig this first introduction to the band.”
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“Dig You A Hole” is the first blast from Terror Universal’s debut album Make Them Bleed, due out Jan. 19 (pre-orders here or here) and featuring guest appearances by John Moyer (Disturbed, Art of Anarchy) and Tony Campos (Fear Factory, Ministry, Soulfly). And Chavarri says future videos will likely be just as ambitious. “It’s all about saying who you are and making sure people know you’re there,” Chavarri, aka Massacre, says. “We are a very dark band and we’re obviously a horror-themed band. So it’s important for people to see the band as much as hear the band. The music has to be great, too; We wanted to make sure we wrote the best songs we could write. But both sides are important to what we’re about.”
Chavarri formed Terror Universal in 2014. Ahrue Luster, aka Doabolus, from Ill Nino and Machine Head, was involved in the early stages of the band, writing half of the songs in Make Them Bleed, but he is no longer involved with the band. In 2015, guitarist Thrax and Plague joined Terror Universal. (The latter two members’ identities will be revealed next year, according to Chavarri). The group released an EP, Reign Of Terror, during 2015 and has played dates with Korn, Hellyeah, Asking Alexandria, Ill Nino and others. Chavarri says the more time he and his mates in Terror have spent behind their masks, the more they like doing it.
“It allows you to be something that you’re not,” he explains. “It’s fun and freeing in a way. Putting a mask on and going on stage is very freeing in the sense that people can’t look at your facial expressions when you’re playing. It just adds an obscurity to it and it allows you to be free to be whoever you want and to morph into a character that’s just totally sick. I mean, Plague is an amazing frontman, he’s a bad ass, and when puts that mask on he turns into a different person.”
After Make Them Bleed‘s release, Terror Universal will begin “extensively touring” in February, according to Chavarri. Dates are expected to begin surfacing soon.