October is the season to be scared and Ice Nine Kills are determined to chill you to the bones with their new album. In 2018, the band released The Silver Scream, and this year they have released the follow-up album Welcome to Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2. Did this album build on the success of the first or flop like most horror film sequels tend to do? Well, let’s dive into the gore-soaked album and find out.
Ice Nine Kills are an American metalcore band from Boston Massachusetts. The band is best known for their 2018 horror film album, The Silver Scream which was met with huge success.
Axe-cellent Album
This album is so full of axe-cellence songs that is difficult to single out any. However, my personal favourite song from this album is Funeral Derangements. This track is based on the Stephen King classic, Pet Semetery, and absolutely nails the heavy themes of the film while retaining the horror and violence of the story.
The song is played out from the perspective of the film’s main character, Louis Creed, which becomes apparent in the chorus. The chorus is sung in a remorseful tone, expressing the regret over the death of his son and how he is determined to make things right, no matter the cost. The heavy screaming vocals of the verses show the anguish the character is going through.
Gory, Cheesy And Groovy
Being a fan of the Evil Dead franchise, I was really looking forward to the band’s interpretation of Ex-Mortis, titled after the book that is responsible for the horrors that characters endured through the films.
However, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the band took a more comedic approach to the song, which fits with the sequels and TV shows that followed on from the original. The whole song has a vibe of demonic chaos sprinkled with comedy and cheesiness which really sums the Evil Dead franchise perfectly; Gory, Cheesy and Groovy.
Horror is usually about violence and when it comes to violence and metal, nobody knows better than Cannibal Corpse frontman, Corpsegrinder (George Fisher). Corpsegrinder is the perfect feature for Take Your Pick, a song about the violent slasher film, My Bloody Valentine.
With the brutal nature of the death metal vocals of both Ice Nine Kills frontman, Spencer Charnas and Corpsegrinder, this song really brings to life the juxtaposition of Valentine’s Day and bloody pickaxe murders. My favourite lyric of the whole album is in this song ‘roses are red, violets are blues, they’ll need your dental records to identify you’.
Perfect Sequel
This album is the perfect sequel to The Silver Scream and quite possibly the best album that Ice Nine Kills have ever produced. The band brings all these songs to life, and all have a unique twist that fits the plot of the film that the song is covering. This album truly displays the amount of talent the band has and is a must-have record for this Halloween.
