White Flag (from album Paradise Lost)
by Delta Heavy
Literal interpretation of the Bible has always been the source of some epic art. Epic metaphorically as in glorious scenes with scantily clad people painted in the Renaissance, but sometimes also literally, as in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost from the 17th-century.
The British drum ’n’ bass duo Delta Heavy (Ben Hall and Simon James) took the title of the work to name their debut LP, but I’m sure they didn’t imagine it would lead to a biblical SNES-que music video when put into the hands of Najeeb Tarazi (ex-Pixar technical director on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University). Following the two previous animated music videos from the album, Najeeb took the chance to bring together a team of artists to create a pixel art recreation of Paradise Lost’s narrative about Book of Revelation’s war in heaven (you know, the part with the action movie battle where Archangel Michael’s armies defeats Satan’s forces and kicks out a third of the angels from heaven, a.k.a. the fallen angels).
Explaining the inspiration for the theme, Tarazi says,
“White Flag is about letting your guard down in love. I wanted to try turning the myth of Paradise Lost on its head and tell a story where Satan apologizes after his defeat and seeks a path of love.”
Looking at the art, you will find a familiar style, in particular a deep Paul Robertson (@probertson) influence since, well, Paul himself drew the main characters (including the mighty Lord of the Flies Beelzebub). Tim Rauch of @rauchbros and Najeeb himself also worked on sprites, while Bradford D Smith II a.k.a. @bdsii did most of the backgrounds, joined by Daniel “@desudanieru” Reis, @pretty-transparents and Najeeb on the space scenes. And if that’s not enough, master animator Alexis “@mrhk“ Morille handled special effects. What a team.
All there’s left to do is see the epicness for yourself:
You can enjoy Delta Heavy’s full Paradise Lost album here.
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