Legendary actors Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard feature in David Bowie’s new video for the title track from his new album The Next Day.

In an extremely gory and NSFW three minutes (squeamish fans beware), a single edit of the opening track of Bowie’s latest album has lost none of the grittiness of the album version.

“Listen!” he implores us, as his band plays to a seedy looking bar. The camera follows Oldman as he enters the bar. Cotillard instantly catches his eye, and from there, things escalate rather quickly. The video ends with Bowie showing and telling us something that many of his fans suspected all along.

It’s a classic Bowie video, directed by Floria Sigismondi, who he has also worked with on “Little Wonder,” “Strangers When We Meet,” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight).”

Seeing 66-year-old Bowie performing on stage again (and with such gusto) is a rather startling image – we hope this won’t be the last time we see Bowie performing with a band behind him. Following his sudden and surprising comeback on January 8, no tour dates to promote the critically acclaimed album have been announced. So far.

“The Next Day” kicks off the album in ferocious style, with Bowie snarling his way through three minutes and twenty-six seconds of breathless, brutal rock. “Here I am, not quite dying, my body left to rot in a hollow tree,” he screams, a perfect way to open his first album since 2003’s Reality.

This video follows two previous singles, “Where Are We Now?” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight).” The latter released with a video featuring actress and Bowie lookalike Tilda Swinton, along with androgynous models Andrej Pejić and Saskia de Brauw.

What did you make of the video? Are you happy with the choice of single?