Today, we’re gonna talk about the wild history of everyone’s favorite pop-punk turned horror-movie themed metalcore band, Ice Nine Kills! I can honestly say I’ve never seen a more creative and unique evolution in a band, and while at first I expected this band to be purely screamo based on aesthetics, they are SO much more exciting beyond my wildest dreams…let’s get into it!
A Brief History of Ice Nine Kills
Ice Nine Kills was formed in Boston, Massachusetts under their original name, Ice Nine in 2000 by friends Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz. The band started originally as a ska/pop-punk band, as demonstrated in their first independent album, Last Chance to Make Amends (2006), when they formally changed their name to Ice Nine Kills. Then, in 2007, the release of their first studio album, The Burning EP, the band started to incorporate more metalcore elements to its pop-punk sound, proving to be so successful, they toured with bands like A Day to Remember and Paramore.
The band was invited to the Vans Warped Tour in 2009 and 2010 after several lineup changes with Schwartz quitting the group, releasing their next album, Safe is Just a Shadow, in the latter year with the signature Ice Nine Kills sound we know and love today.
With even more buzz surrounding the band, INK when on to release their next EP, The Predator, featuring Tyler Carter from Issues, and even more of the breakdowns and guitar parts the fans grew to adore.
By 2014, the band released the album The Predator Becomes The Prey, breaking into the Billboard Top 200 chart and continuing to perform on the Vans Warped Tour.
The band’s fourth studio album, Every Trick in the Book, released in 2015, was the band’s first delve into the horror story genre, with songs referencing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, The Exorcist, and more, and this unique take from the band hugely resonated with fans, continuing to do so today.
In 2018, the band released their breakthrough album, The Silver Scream with each track referencing a different horror movie. Stanley Kubrik’s grandson was even featured on the track, “Enjoy Your Slay.” This era of the band was when they really began to incorporate horror theatrical elements into their shows, and since the the album’s track, “A Grave Mistake,” is the band’s biggest song to date, this proved that the band’s experimentation with different rock sounds into their music really paid off.
While Ice Nine Kills continued to release projects since then, 2021 would mark the release of The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood as a sequel to The Silver Scream, featuring 14 more tracks referencing more horror films such as Psycho and Resident Evil. The album also contained features from even more stars such as bandmates from Papa Roach and Less Than Jake, and the band had even more cinematic horror elements incorporated into their shows than ever before, inspiring metalheads and theater kids alike to fall in love with their music.
Ice Nine Kills has managed to stay relevant for over 20 years, staying busy, evolving their sound, and bringing people from different walks of life to appreciate the metal and horror genres in the most creative ways.
Ice Nine Kills in Pop Culture
Ice Nine Kills is truly unique in the fact that this band not only is a thriving metalcore band incorporating a myriad of horror films into their music, but they also created their own graphic novel in 2021, a makeup line, AND their own horror convention called Silver Scream Con, an annual event featuring an Ice Nine Kills concert and Q&As/meet and greets with horror film icons that fans of the genre love so much. I’ve never seen a band be able to build a fanbase not only through music, but through books, theater, the beauty industry and the convention scene as well, bringing together people from so many walks of life, and I have mad respect for that.
Not only has Ice Nine Kills created their own unique genre of horror-inspired metal/pop-punk, but they have created an empire uniting lovers of graphic novels, conventions, theater, beauty, and film alike. Not many bands (if any) can say they have accomplished this feat, and it is truly remarkable. Check out INK’s fantastic discography here!
Till Next Time!
XOXO,
Meagan