Ice Kills Nine – The Silver Screen 2: Welcome To Horrorwood | Album Review

As the spooks and tales of toil come barrelling out of the woodwork in time for another glorious celebration of All Hallows Eve; Ice Nine Kills are back to terrorize us for another year with their disruptive sixth studio album: Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2.

The Bay Stater horror aficionados are well known as versatile and dynamic performers with a consistent longing to up the ante with each and every release, which just makes their claim as the reigning Kings of the Halloween soundtracks stronger and stronger. However, their familiar structure and tendency to send listeners off the deep end into a complete sensory overload is somehow completely missing that certain je ne sais quoi that previous explorations were previously highly praised for within is this release.

Although the experience of Horrorwood doesn’t totally live up to the nightmarish paradise promised, instances of sinister fables that can truly transport your consciousness through the TV screen include ‘The Shower Scene’ inspired by the 1960’s Alfred Hitchcock classic – Psycho and ‘F.L.Y.’ featuring Senses Fail frontman Buddy Nielsen, which derives inspiration from the 1986 Sci-Fi Body Horror flick The Fly, directed by the Baron of Blood himself, David Cronenberg.

‘The Shower Scene’ is an emo-pop/metalcore hybrid banger that captures the essence of shocking suddenness; with its various displays of mania offering a taste of the tormented mind lingering within Norman ‘Mother’ Bates, the track serves as a sort of introductory blaster to the complicated and tormented back story to the Psychological Thriller classic.

‘F.L.Y.’ is a short but sweet palette cleanser, divulging into the twisted genius of Dr. Seth Brundle in the midst of his mutation into the Brundlefly hybrid, while documenting his deteriorating humanity. The tracks intro is strangely reminiscent of the iconic Rocky Horror Picture Show dance song ‘Time Warp’, before breaking into an intense metalcore meets electronica operatic episode, which adds layers of madness as the track progresses over its criminally short runtime.

An overarching quality of the LP that feels undeniably harrowing is the inclusion of a fictionalised indictment of INK’s frontman Spencer Charnas for the murder of his girlfriend, while the tracks that follow are treated as evidence of his criminal intent. As much as we all love a bit of immersion as a performer, especially when you are deeply passionate about the subject matter; the cracks forming in the forth wall make this inclusion rather perplexing as well as leaves potential for a semi-real world fear of these horror stories seeping into the “real world”. The decision as to whether this is a good or bad facet of the albums overall takeaway value, is really going to come down to the listeners discretion and personal perception of the overall subject matter at hand. From our perspective, it hits a little close to home.

In reflection, a common practise for artists young and old, is responding or paying homage to a plethora of zeitgeists, but when the flavour of the month hangs around well past its prime you have to wonder whether or not the inspiration for such instalments to a discography are becoming predictable, or dare we say slightly ho-hum. As impressive as Horrorwood may be – especially for Ice Nine Kills devoted fan base, the overwhelming sense of apathy from what feels like the band resting on their laurels, just doesn’t inspire the same level of enjoyment compared to the original concepts that made them one of the most exciting contemporary heavy metal bands going.