The Top 10 Ice Nine Kills Songs From “The Silver Scream”
Ice Nine Kills is a metal band that hails from from about an hour from where I grew up: Boston, MA. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time, and I thought it was about time to do a top 10 list of my favorite songs by one of the coolest bands that I’ve listened to. What makes them so cool, you ask? Well, their recent catalog of music is themed entirely around horror movies and books like The Exorcist, Halloween, and Friday the 13th. So, what are my picks for the top 10 Ice Nine Kills songs of all time?
10. Your Number’s Up
Honestly, this one didn’t click with me at first when it released, but it grew on me after a few listens. The song is inspired by the famed horror franchise “Scream,” and details a murder plot that turns pretty gory pretty quick. Overall, I like the pacing of “Your Number’s Up” and it’s definitely my favorite track off The Silver Scream (Final Cut), next to maybe the acoustic version of Stabbing in the Dark featuring Matt Heafy of Trivium.
9. Rocking the Boat
Based on Steven Spielberg’s shark-starring classic, Jaws, “Rocking the Boat” does not waste any time getting into it. With the opening “Shark!” followed by some killer instrumentals, and a mimicking of an official “ship-to-ship” distress call, the song promises some fun from the very beginning. By far, my favorite line is when they radio the Coast Guard for the second time, telling them that they need assistance and the Coast Guard says it’ll be fifteen minutes. Spencer promptly replies “In fifteen minutes, we’ll be f***ing shark bait!” I just love that line, and always will.
8. Merry Axe-Mas
Merry Axe-Mas puts an incredibly dark spin on what Christmas music sounds like, and I think that it should absolutely continue to follow the trend that Ice Nine Kills has set with Merry Axe-Mas. This is definitely track #1 on my annual Christmas playlist, and will continue to sit on there for the rest of time.
7. SAVAGES
SAVAGES, based on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, is by far one of the most unique songs that Ice Nine Kills has released (yet), and I love how different it is. It’s definitely much more rock-oriented rather than metal, but it’s still got that metal essence that I love from Ice Nine Kills. The guitar in SAVAGES is absolutely unrivaled and it just sounds great. Now, I guess I should probably go watch some Texas Chainsaw Massacre, right?
6. IT Is the End
Inspired by the classic Stephen King novel and film, It, IT Is the End features Less Than Jake, Fenix TX, JR Wasilewski, Buddle Schaub & Will Salazar on a delightfully terrifying track full of clowns and circus sounds. The progression of this song goes from 0-100 almost instantly, and the circus horn is absolutely the highlight of IT Is the End.
5. The Jig Is Up (feat. Randy Strohmeyer)
The Jig Is Up also shakes up the classic Ice Nine Kills sound in the best way possible. As it’s based on the horror film franchise, Saw, it incorporates several pieces of the franchise that are all instantly recognizable for fans of the films, including Jigsaw’s voice, the classic “Let’s play a game” line, and INK even remixes the classic Saw theme, “Hello Zepp,” which is hands down the coolest part of the entire song. Not that it discounts the rest, but I still can’t get over how cool it is.
4. The American Nightmare
The American Nightmare is track #1 on The Silver Scream, and it is an absolute banger. Based on one of the most famous horror franchises of all time, Nightmare on Elm Street, The American Nightmare tells the story from Freddy Krueger’s perspective, and it’s definitely one of my favorites.
3. A Grave Mistake
A Grave Mistake, inspired by The Crow, is yet again another shift in Ice Nine Kills’ tone, and it goes to show just how much they’re capable of doing. I remember a friend of mine kept trying to convince me to listen to INK and told me to listen to this song because “it’s not that heavy” (this was before I fell down the rabbit hole of metal), so eventually after he continued to pester me about it, I gave it a listen, and here we are….I’ve now seen them
2. Thank God It’s Friday
Ever seen Friday the 13th? Take a listen to Ice Nine Kills’ “Thank God It’s Friday” and you won’t need to! The song tells the story of Jason Voorhees, the lead character in the Friday the 13th franchise, and a certain other member of his family (not going to spoil the movies for those who don’t know), but just know that the song slaps.
1. Stabbing in the Dark
Coming in at #1, we’ve got “Stabbing in the Dark.” This song is based on one of my favorite horror franchises of all time, Halloween, and it’s probably my favorite song by Ice Nine Kills ever. The acoustic version of the song that features Matt Heafy from Trivium is also a fantastic version, and I will never skip either of these songs when they come up on my shuffle.
While this list changes quite often – honestly, it probably changes daily – these are my favorite Ice Nine Kills songs off of “The Silver Scream.” There were a couple hard choices, but ultimately, they didn’t quite make it up there. Oh, and I can’t forget Jason’s Mom!