Posted in: Horror, Movies | Tagged: horror, horror films, ice nine kills, metalcore, music, silver scream, welcome to horrowood

Ice Nine Kills: Music That Understands The Love For Horror Films

Ice Nine Kills, a metalcore band with origins in Boston, MA (shoutout to my favorite city), has taken a special hold on horror and music with their last two albums, The Silver Scream (2018) & The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood. Fronted by lead singer Spencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills includes Joe Occhiuti (bass/vocals), Dan Sugarman (lead guitar), Ricky Armellino (guitar/vocals), and Patrick Galante (drums). Maybe it's part of my current set of fixations on the band, but there's something more to these albums that resonates with me compared to past bands or albums with darker themes.

I remember my dad's first horror film with me was The Shining. Obsessed and intrigued by psychological horror and the genre in general, I grew a deep love and understanding of the variety in horror movies. Listening to Ice Nine Kills, it doesn't just feel like I'm listening to someone reiterate why they love a certain horror film. It feels like an homage or dedicated musical number for the story itself, as if it belongs as a rock opera on a large stage made for Broadway.

The music videos also convey an appreciation for the visuals in these stories as well, only adding to the impact made by the songs alone. In The Silver Scream, Ice Nine Kills somehow brings the emotions and storytelling that I've loved from films like The Shining and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into the lyrics and melody in such a way that it honestly gets to me emotionally. When you have a particular interest or generally care about a subject a lot, seeing such artistic dedication to it can be incredible to witness.

The love for these horror films continued with the recent release of The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, an album that expanded on the story Ice Nine Kills tells with their albums and music videos, often hilariously placing Spencer Charnas in the place of a horror icon. A favorite of mine from the album (which is so hard to choose just one) would have to be "Hip To Be Scared ft. Jacoby Shaddix," based on American Psycho (2000). The way the song can perfectly portray the film's dark & horrific comedic timing, including all its original satire on American masculinity and socio-economic ego, never ceases to impress me.

In interviews, Spencer has referred to his own love of musicals in terms of his creative choices and direction for these albums. It makes a lot of sense; from the structure of these songs to the specific sounds and audio clips included, the horror films I have loved make their way into the style of a rock opera I would definitely go see. Multiple musical influences can be heard; for example, the song "Wurst Vacation" gives off Rammstein vibes in such a fantastic way as it depicts the horrors of Hostel. In terms of sounds, the screeching of truck tires and screams of horror from Spencer in the song "Funeral Derangements" echoes the debilitating form of grief found in Pet Sematary. Ending this article, I want to give a huge thanks to Ice Nine Kills for not taking the easy road with horror films in their music but instead giving these stories the melody and lyrics they deserve.

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