The 10 Best Ice Nine Kills Songs of All-Time
High school friends Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz founded Ice Nine Kills in 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts. The group released its debut album in 2006, Last Chance to Make Amends. On November 20, 2007, they released their second album, The Burning. This album was the catalyst for a national tour, including opening for I See Stars and Eyes Set To Kill. In 2008, they opened for As I Lay Dying, A Day To Remember, Thursday, and Paramore. Additionally, they did a performance at Taste of Chaos. Schwartz left the band in 2009 since he couldn’t deal with the stress of touring. The same year Remember Tomorrow disbanded, so Schwartz asked several band members to join Ice Nine Kills. The lineup change shifted the music into metalcore. Ferret Music singed the group later that year. Later in 2009, Ice Nine Kills performed at Warped Tour. Afterward, they began writing their next record, Safe is Just a Shadow, released on July 12, 2010, the same year they did a second performance on The Warped Tour stage. Their next album, 2013’s The Predator, was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. To promote the album, the group played on The All-Stars tour and the Vans Warped Tour. Additionally, they released the single The Product of Hate to help people affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. The Predator Becomes the Prey was their first album to reach the Billboard Top 200, peaking at 153. It also debuted at number 3 on The Heat Seekers Chart, 38 on the Independent label charts, and 13 on the Hard Rock charts. In 2014, Ice Nine Kills did the entire Warped Tour. They headlined the IX Lives Tour with getting Scared, This Dawning, Chasing Safety, and Brightwell. According to Dread Central, the groups’ latest album, The Silver Scream: Welcome to Horrorwood, is set to release in October 2021. These are the 10 best Ice Nine Kills songs of all time.
10. Me Myself & Hyde
The eerie horse hoofs in the front of the song and piano chords give this song a Victorian feel. The lyrics are about inner battles we face through experiences. However, the song quickly shifts to a primal scream releasing inner emotions. It’s a blend of rock and metalcore. The driving drums in the music keep the song going. Some of the lyrics take a historical twist detailing some of the group’s hometown history.
9. Communion of the Cursed
Much of the group’s music focuses on horror themes and uses their genre to bring a new depth to the culture. This song’s lyrics read like a Grimm Fairytale for a possessed doll. Moreover, it makes the listener think of all their worst nightmares. The stellar guitar riffs and speed metal drumming, on the other hand, make the perceived possession seem magnificent and addictive to listen to multiple times.
8. Proximity Mines in The Complex
The song starts off with coarse and discordant guitar with powerful drum beats, creating a song that shifts between the light and dark. The lyrics suggest one of the worst breakups. However, instead of doing a mordant take on it like many artists, they take the rage you feel when someone dumps you and turns it into the genuine anger many people try to hide.
7. The Nature of The Beast
The opening of this movie sounds like a Dystopian Disney movie. As the song abruptly shifts into symphonic metal. The instrumentation is intoxicating, drawing you into another nightmare created by this group with raucous beats and a blend of instrumentation that typically wouldn’t work in a song in this genre. Throughout the song the music creates jarring verses that shift between the prelude and the heavy metal genre.
6. Can’t Help Falling In Love
This song is the most covered Elvis Presley song. However, Ice Nine Kills version stands out because it takes the original feel of the song and turns into an eloquent and haunting ballad with moments of heavier guitar. Many horror movies feature songs like this at the worst moments and this version of the song would fit in perfectly with that group.
5. The Greatest Story Ever Told
A speed metal intro starts this song. Parts of the music sound like mid to late 90s songs. The lyrics are about a man accused of murdering his wife, but it’s someone else. Another character in the song is charged with murder and vows revenge once released from prison. Ice 9 Kills sneaks a reference to The Godfather movie into the music. This song is a different sound for the group coming across and hard rock pop.
4. Someone Like You
Some people loved Adele’s song Someone Like You; others thought it was an overdramatized ballad suitable for parody memes. The group adds a futuristic sound to the piece, complete with some punk elements. Instead of coming across as melancholoy like the original version, it sounds similar to Miserable by Lit.
3. Stabbing In The Dark
Some of the best horror movies are 80s slashers. The lyrics of the song are about the John Carpenter classic Halloween. As the song progressed, you hear some of Rob Zombie’s style of music, haunting and primal. The analogy of stabbing in the dark has a dual meaning; blindly looking for something in life you can’t find and a villain in a movie searching for his next victim. The instrumentation in this song captures the feel of the film perfectly.
2. A Grave Mistake
This song’s beginning sounds like the first paragraphs of a gothic horror novel. Throughout the rest of the song, it gives this style of the story a modern twist. There is something dreamy about this song, even though it’s heavily entrenched in the metal genre. The imagery of a grow adds an additional gothic element to the lyrics about ghosts and the loss of a person’s soul.
1. The American Nightmare
This song fully embraces horror metal. It’s another song that brings another classic villain to life, Freddy Krueger. The lyrics put a graphic spin on bedtime tradition with lines like “counting bodies instead of sheep.” The last line references Krueger, “I’m slashing my way through the golden age of the silver scream.”