15 Oct 2026, 20:00
Video Premiere: Abhoria – “Ambition and Delusion”
Image: Via decibelmagazine.com · Image source
Guitarist and songwriter Trevor Portz framed the new Abhoria video for “Ambition and Delusion” by saying it "captured the perfect atmosphere for Bennett’s fractured worldview," explaining the band’s turn to silent‑film aesthetics. The video mixes performance footage with stylized vignettes presenting James Gordon Bennett Jr. from his own perspective.
According to Decibel.
“captured the perfect atmosphere for Bennett’s fractured worldview.”
The line "captured the perfect atmosphere for Bennett’s fractured worldview" comes from guitarist and songwriter Trevor Portz and appears in coverage accompanying the Decibel video premiere for Abhoria’s new single “Ambition and Delusion.” In context, Portz uses the phrase to explain why the band leaned into silent‑film aesthetics for the video.
According to the piece, Portz drew inspiration from seeing He Who Gets Slapped at Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California. Director Hunter Lamar of Digital Myle, who worked with Abhoria on their 2024 video for “The Well,” staged a mix of intense performance footage and stylized silent‑era vignettes with title cards and period framing to embody the protagonist’s fractured perspective.
Portz’s observation anchors the visual strategy: the silent‑film approach was chosen to serve the song’s point of view, which dramatizes the psyche of James Gordon Bennett Jr. The single previews the band’s forthcoming third album, features an unusual steel‑guitar interlude by vocalist Ben Pitts, was mixed by Herbrand Larsen and mastered by Tony Lindgren, and the band will take the song on the road with Velnias across the Southwest.