Trigger Warning: There are graphic horror elements containing gore in Ice Nine Kills songs and music videos.
Ice Nine Kills (INK), a heavy metal band formed in 2000, hails from Boston, Massachusetts. They are known for their horror-themed music and music videos, specifically sprouting from their fifth album The Silver Scream. The band is currently made up of Spencer Charnes (lead singer), Ricky Armellino (rhythm guitar, keyboards, lead vocals), Partick Galante (drums), Joe Occhiuti (bass, lead vocals), and Dan Sugarman (lead guitarist, backing vocals).
Most of INK’s music starts out with a strong opening song that is at least three minutes long. However, their most recent album The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood begins with a 40-second monologue, “Opening Night…” I’m sure people are split 50/50 on whether or not to take the time to listen to their monologue. Well, I’m here to say, yes, you need to listen to this in full because it sets up the rest of the album. Knowing this song helps with understanding the rest of the storyline that the music videos create. “Opening Night…” leads to the development of the album’s story arc with Spencer Charnes’ “brutal slaying of his 28-year old fiancĂ©.”
- “Welcome to horrorwood”
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This is the second song on the album, and unlike the rest of the album, this song is not about a horror movie or video game. Instead, it is seen as a critique of the film industry. The song also has lines that link The Silver Scream to this album, such as “sit back for the sequel of your dreams/ All psychos crave more shocking scenes.” It bluntly states that it’s a sequel (if one does not understand that from the album title) but also directly speaks about the band’s fan base who are called psychos. The critique of the film industry comes in with the first chorus, which talks about an actor/actress killing for a callback.
The music video for the song, at this point, is the most recent development in the storyline the videos create. At this point, Spencer has been on trial for killing his fiancĂ©, and this music video, along with some of the others I will speak about, is being used as evidence to try and convict him. This video is the weakest piece of evidence that the prosecution has against Spencer due to this being the first music video where he doesn’t kill his fiance. However, this music video dives more into the new serial killer that the band has created called The Silencer.
welcome to horrorwood – ice nine kills on Tumblr - “A Rash Decision”
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This is the third track on the album and is based on the 2002 movie Cabin Fever. Personally, I have never seen this movie. However, from the research that I have done into it, the song adequately represents the feeling of the movie. INK does an excellent job of throwing the listener into the moment with the opening lines even if you haven’t seen the movie or know anything about it.
Ice Nine Kills – A Rash Decision - “Funeral Derangments”
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This one is based on Steven King’s novel and movie Pet Semetary. This music video is the fourth installment in the “Welcome to Horrorwood” storyline. In the music video, Spencer plays the role of the dad in Pet Semetary that is distraught over losing his young son. Spencer goes as far as digging up his son’s coffin and moving him into a different graveyard to be resurrected. When his wife/fiance finds out what he has done, he kills her and buries her next to their son. When the two come back, they kill him and bury him for him to be resurrected.
Once the music video ends, the cops that have been trying to pin the murder of Spencer’s 28-year-old fiancĂ© pull out a VHS tape that holds the music video. The cops immediately make a note about how the song and music video is a “rip off of Pet Semetary.” They move on to discuss the details of the case that lead the detective to get the evidence that they need to arrest. In the music video, the partner dies the same way that the fiancĂ© is killed “in real life” with “three stabs to the chest, two in the stomach, and one in the back.”
Pet Sematary Rock GIF By Ice Nine Kills - “Hip to be scared” (Featuring Jacoby Shaddix)
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This is the first part that kicked off the “Welcome to Horrowood” storyline. You wouldn’t know until the very end of the music video when multiple different newscasts are layered over each other about Spencer Charnes’s arrest. This song is based on the 2000 Horror Comedy American Psycho, which reflects well in the music video as Spencer portrays the main character, Patrick Bateman. Jacoby Shaddix, the lead singer of the rock band Papa Roach, plays the part of a murder victim that gets cut up by an axe. From here, in all of the lines that he sings, we see him just laying on the ground, slowly bleeding out of his multiple wounds.
Hard Rock Horror GIF By Ice Nine Kills - “Rainy Day”
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This is the third installment in the storyline and actually has two parts to it. The first part is strictly the music video while part two is back with the detectives as they discuss the problem with this music video. This song is based on the video game and movie franchise Biohazard (Europe and the US have renamed it Resident Evil). The music video is extremely accurate to how the movie is portrayed according to the multiple comments on Youtube.
Resident Evil Rock GIF By Ice Nine Kills
The storyline for Welcome to Horrorwood expands further than the songs I have listed here (with the exception of “A Rash Decision”). In fact, there are two more videos falling in the second and fifth spots in the storyline, starting with “Assault & Batteries” and later “The Shower Scene” respectively. You can watch the entire Welcome to Horrorwood story here.
INK also has a storyline based on their first popular album, The Silver Scream, which focuses on horror movies. Some are mainstream like Holloween though some of them are less so like Silent Night, Deadly Night. This storyline consists of multiple music videos, which in a way, connects part one and two of the album together, that are stung together to make a consistent story.