ICE NINE KILLS // They Came From Beneath The Sink!

Ever taken a walk through a carnival? Ever tried the haunted house, with its gnarly ghosts gawking at you, its wickedly weird werewolves coming for you, and the deep anticipation of what might be lurking around every corner? That’s what it feels like to listen to The Silver Scream, the fifth release from Ice Nine Kills.

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A darkness, a disdain, courses through the album more so than the Boston outfit’s previous releases. The more macabre your opinion, the more morose your experience; and the more vocalist Spencer Charnas feels he’s accomplished his mission. “I really wanted to honour these films and how special I think the horror genre is, and what an escape it can provide from everyday life,” he says.

“I wanted to respect these films and do it in a way that really honoured them and not disrespect the work, take it for granted. At the same time I hoped to please fans of these films, whether they liked heavy music or not.

“The other one was to expose people who may like heavy music but never really gave horror a chance or knew much about these films, [give them] a gateway into this world. I wanted to make the listener feel he was within the film, not only ensconce the listener not only from a lyrical stand point and paint the imagery using words, but also really illustrate a soundscape that was reminiscent of the emotions of these films. Dancing the line between not ripping it off was a cool road to navigate, and I think we’ve done that.”

Charnas’ twisted fascination with the existing horror materials available to him is evident, but the slow, monotonous drone as he speaks begs the question of how much did he insert of his own particular macabre persona and interpretation of horror as a moniker into The Silver Scream. “For me there’s always been an element of humour in the horror genre, which the casual observer might not take away from it.

“A lot of this stuff is vile and sleazy in a way but it’s all done with a tongue in cheek mentality. Horror, as horrific as it is—using the same word, derivative—it’s supposed to be fun. I think people that criticise the genre are missing that point of the entire package.

“As scary and dangerous as the album is sounding, there’s a lot of humour in there too.”

Horror, as horrific as it is—using the same word, derivative—it’s supposed to be fun. I think people that criticise the genre are missing that point of the entire package.
[SPENCER]

Because Ice Nine Kills were dealing with something that is so much a part of Charnas’s being, applying a nightmarish soundtrack to the imagery by which he was influenced was really just an extension of his existence. “It didn’t ever seem like work to me, just a fun project,” Charnas says, excited. “The challenge was, we wanted to respect the source material and make sure these songs lived up to the greatness of their original form.”

Besides giving the music its own character, as some of the melodies seemingly represent an antagonist or a monster of its own, in doing this, Ice Nine Kills have created their own monster, a subgenre almost, that suits what the band is about as well as their desire for honouring horror films. “We are trying to do something a little bit different—I’m not saying we’re any means the first band who were influenced by horror work —but we’re trying to take it to the next level. We’re trying to breathe a medium into an already existing one and my hope is that, the reason these films have stood the test of time is because they stood out in some way, and I’m hoping this songs can have a life of their own, much like the films they’re based on.

Each song cries out like it’s a different character, each song is a different story—so when Charnas performs, he’s adopting different personas to represent these different characters. “That was something I strived to do,” he says. “On this record I experimented with a lot of different vocal, not techniques but different characters, to try and sound like different people were delivering different parts of each song, whether it was Pennywise The Clown, or Michael Myers in the song we based on Halloween.

“I definitely want to have that attention to distinct characters vocally come through, not only on the record but in the live performance.”

Lurch, Freddy Krueger, in some ways Charnas embodies all his horror heroes. His voice is cutting without being abrasive, his tone is clear yet monotonous—in some ways, Charnas strikes an audible resemblance to famed actor Vincent Price, a horror stalwart and hero of his. “Well, that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me,” he says, a flicker of brightness radiating in his voice.