Ashes of Eden (song)

Music video

The music video for the song was released in July 2016. When describing it, frontman Benjamin Burnley described it as a "modern sci-fi take on Adam and Eve," and cited influence from Gravity and Star Trek, "probably because I’m into that kind of stuff, it's probably subconsciously affected it."

The video begins in an alien spaceship orbiting an unidentifiable planet with the band members portraying the ship's command crew. Outside a main window, a male crew member is seen adrift in their spacesuit and slowly falling into the atmosphere while closely watched by a female member of the crew and Burnley, portraying the ship's captain. The female crew member approaches the airlock and becomes enshrouded in her spacesuit, composed of nanoparticles. Then she's released into space toward her ailing counterpart while tethered to the ship by an air supply hose. As the woman draws near to the male, she extends her arm, he does the same, and their arms clasp together. As the ship begins to reel them back in, the ailing male slips from her grasp and falls much faster toward the planet and sheds a large, black tear from his left eye. Having reached her tether's maximum length, the female crew member can't go toward him, but she's unwilling to let him go alone and severs her hose, propelling her into the arms of the male. They embrace tightly and begin tumbling through the atmosphere. The band members watch on the command bridge as the couple burn brightly through the atmosphere while Burnley sings anguished at their loss. The couple falls as a meteor shower and becomes meshed with the Earth, which over deep time gives rise to life and modern civilization. Two humans that appear similar to the couple are walking through a busy city sidewalk when some meteorite-like particles go past them. Their eyes meet, recognize each other, clasp arms, and stare deeply into each other's eyes.

In the video, the ship is piloted by a humanoid alien species. Their distinctive features are silvery skin with dark metallic, scale-patterned features, metallic hair generally styled toward the back of the head and none of the sides (sometimes reminiscent of the mohawk style), and very large, solid black irises. Their tears, like their eyes, are also solid black. Burnley is the only one shown mostly-exempt from the styling, sporting only the eye modifications. The rest of the band has patterns cut into their hair, eye modifications, and more similar styling to the crew.

Charts

Reaching a peak of No. 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart, "Ashes of Eden" became Breaking Benjamin's fourth lowest-charting single to date there.