Released December 18, 2012 Length 5:43 Writer(s) Jerry Cantrell | Format Digital download Label Virgin/EMI | |
Genre Sludge metal, stoner rock, doom metal | ||
"Hollow" is the first single by American rock band Alice in Chains from their fifth studio album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, released in May 28, 2013. On December 18, 2012, the band debuted the song on YouTube with a fan-made lyric video. The lyric video contains static images submitted by fans via Instagram. The song was made available for digital download on January 8, 2013. It is played in a 6/4 time signature during the verses, and in a standard 4/4 signature during the choruses.
Contents
Style
The website Musically Diversified describes "Hollow" as "a mix of stoner or doom metal and grunge" that "starts off with some feedback that soon launches into a very chorus-soaked grunge riff that is accompanied by heavy drums and bass. This intro section concludes and the song goes into a very sludge or stoner metal-influenced verse where the instruments chug along at a very lethargic pace that is kept tight by the rhythm section of Mike Inez and Sean Kinney. But then the chorus comes in and picks up things with Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall's harmonized vocals. This sequence repeats itself one more time and then the listener gets a great guitar solo at 3:43. This solo continues until we hit another verse and chorus which marks the end of the song."
Music video
An official music video was made for the song by director Robert Schober (aka Roboshobo), premiered on the band's official website on January 10, 2013. The video depicts the daily routine of an astronaut orbiting around earth whilst performing various floral experiments on the ship. He is shown often chatting to his significant other on Earth via video calling. As the video progresses, and his tenure in orbit turns from months into years, the astronaut slowly but steadily tires of his mundane routine, leading to emotional conflict with his significant other and suffering a mental breakdown. Near the end of the video, having completely lost his mind, and a visible tumor on his neck, the astronaut takes a flamethrower and destroys the experiments on board, which leads to the entire ship catching fire and crumbling with him inside.