MANILA, Philippines - Just a day after American punk band Fall Out Boy's video for new single "The Phoenix" was released online, Filipino music lovers contributed to its over 300,000 views on YouTube, making it the country's most viewed video this week.
The single, set to be part of a new album "Save Rock and Roll" after the band's three-year hiatus, serves as context for grisly scenes showing the four musicians being abducted and then tortured by sinister-looking women.
In the video, front man Patrick Stump, who cuffs a mysterious briefcase to his wrist, gets his hand chopped off. Bassist Pete Wentz, meanwhile, endures a syringe taken to his neck.
Music observers such as James Montgomery of MTV have said that the video is the first of a series of the same storyline.
"Who are their captors? What's their endgame? And what, exactly, is in that briefcase? Guess we're just gonna have to wait for the next chapter to find out. And we're not complaining, not when a band is operating at the peak of their creative abilities, and churning out compelling work that leaves us wanting more," Montgomery wrote in his blog.
According to social media tracker Trendsmap, most views of the video from the Philippines came from Quezon City and Makati City while more Manila residents preferred to view American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez's video for her single "Tonight" featuring R&B artist Ne-Yo.
Local fans raved on social media about the band's short but cinematic production marking their musical comeback.
Fall Out Boy's #thephoenix.... I LOVE IT. Fall Out Boy really will save rock and roll.
— Renmar Sta Cruz (@therennybear) March 25, 2013