Biohazard - Punishment

What this video is

Released in 1992 on Roadrunner Records alongside the Urban Discipline album, 'Punishment' represents a pivotal moment in New York Hardcore's crossover into the mainstream metal market. Biohazard were acknowledged as among the earliest bands to fuse metal, hardcore, and hip-hop, and this video — their first — was engineered by director Parris Mayhew (Cro-Mags) and producer Drew Stone (Stone Films NYC) to compete…

Why it matters

A landmark document of early-1990s NYHC crossover thrash, 'Punishment' helped establish the template for the hardcore music video: high-density crowd footage, slamdance choreography, and documentary verite aesthetics in place of narrative or conceptual abstraction. Its MTV Headbangers Ball…

The director

Parris Mitchell Mayhew (born 1964) is an American musician, director, and camera operator. A founding member and guitarist of New York Hardcore band Cro-Mags, he earned a BFA in Fine Arts Film from the School of Visual Arts, NYC (1989). He built a music…