Last year saw Code Orange release Underneath, their biggest and most ambitious album to date. The record, a follow-up to 2017’s hugely successful Forever, was a critical success, earning the band a Grammy nomination and a spot on our own Best Of 2020 list. Now, Code Orange have dropped a new animated video for the track “Autumn and Carbine,” which features the band as video game heroes fighting against a money-hungry dystopian society.
The message of the “Autumn and Carbine” video, which premiered on Adult Swim, is primarily an outright condemnation of capitalist society, ripping on a culture where workers are exploited for the benefit of a big, menacing boss figure sitting on a pile of gold. There’s also a call-out of performers who dance for the man in the form of a clownish figure in prison scrubs with face tattoos reading ‘Worker’ and ‘Loyalty’ (a send-up of Soundcloud rappers, maybe? It’s unclear). It’s also suggested that the band aren’t free of subjugation themselves, with members Jami Morgan and Joe Goldman signing away 20% of their souls in one scene. The whole thing culminates with the execution of the world’s capitalist overlords, which is a hardcore take on the cure to society’s ills.
Check out the video for “Autumn and Carbine” below:
Unfortunately, Code Orange will have to wait a little longer to find out if they’ve won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Earlier this year, the 2021 Grammys were postponed due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, which has run especially rampant in California of late. Organizers have yet to confirmed the awards’ new date, but sources have said that March is the tentative plan.
For the record, here are the nominees for Best Metal Performance:
Body Count, “Bum Rush”
Code Orange, “Underneath”
In This Moment, “The In-Between”
Poppy, “Bloodmoney”
Power Trip, “Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe) – Live”
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Words by Chris Krovatin
