Spencer Charnas – Ice Nine Kills ‘Silver Linings with The Silver Scream Sequel’
According to Randy Meeks (horror connoisseur of the Scream franchise) there are certain rules you must abide by when heading down the dark path of sequels in horror movies, which are: #1: The body count is always bigger and #2 the death scenes are always much more elaborate. With that in mind, let’s take a look at Ice Nine Kills‘ spectacular forthcoming release The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood which, in true horror fashion, ups the ante and certainly lives up to its bloody expectations for carnage from the moment you hit play (our review here).
Following the success of their first outing into horror movie territory, the band are back for a second serving and this time, all bets are off according to frontman/visionary Spencer Charnas who joined me, a fellow horror nutter, to take a deep dive into the conception and orchestration of this follow up album. The obvious first question was what drove him to jump straight back into the world of cinema, to which he explained:
“I’m a huge horror fan, but I’m also just a huge fan of the movie business and the idea of film franchises and we got so much of that in the 80s and late 70s [with] Texas Chainsaw, Halloween, Friday the 13th [then] in the 90s with Scream; there were sequels and I just remember how exciting it was for me as a fan of those original movies to see the sequel…”
“I wanted to give our fans that same feeling… and that’s why we’re here!” Spencer on The Silver Scream 2’s conception
And he’s not wrong, excitement levels have been blowing up across Ice Nine Kills groups on Facebook and even our Silver Scream 2 Speculation article has received tens of thousands of views from fans who were just as eager as we were to try and decipher the movies this album will be centred around. It’s like a treasure hunt and it creates this whole new way to anticipate a release like never before and to get the fanbase talking. Some of those conversations lead to discussions about whether all the songs on this album were based upon movies that has sequels or franchises of their own. When quizzed about this fact, Spencer revealed it may have just been a coincidence more than a solid, thought out plan:
“It was more just probably a coincidence. I mean most of the horror movies I like do have sequels, but I think this is more about us kind of taking our own concept that we’re building with the videos and making a sequel out of that. Accepting the last album and the last set of videos for The Silver Scream 1 as the part one to this story.
And now all of that last album and those videos from part one are all considered works of fiction in this new world where a real crime has been committed… by someone I know pretty well.”
If it sounds complex, think of it like the idea behind the opening scene/s of Scream 4 – a movie within a movie. There’s the music videos and songs based around horror films, but behind all of that, there’s another storyline to follow that transcends both versions of The Silver Scream, and is part of what I’m dubbing the Ice Nine Killerverse.
The concept of The Silver Scream 2 has been floating around for a few years now – I even asked Spencer about it when I first got to chat with him back in 2019 (prior to their debut Australian tour with Good Things Festival) – and with that in the back of my mind, I wanted to gauge his opinion on the execution of the expectations he set for himself before going into this sequel album. As he explains, the concept ended up being better than anticipated:
“The chorus’ hit harder, the breakdowns hit bigger, the melodic sections are more melodic and what really ties the whole idea together is this narrative that we’re creating which I hope to flesh out to be a feature film that accepts the last album, and the album that you’re hearing was never supposed to be heard… Only through a criminal investigation were these tapes, videos and lost albums (so to speak) uncovered and now being used against me by the police department.
“I knew what we would need to do to take it up a notch with the violence, with the extreme parts of the music and the juxtaposition of that sort of calm before those jump scares and I think we succeeded!”
Whether you’re a hardcore INK fan or just joined the hype train with the last album, there are various reasons to love this band and dive deep into their world with every multi-media release they put out.
As we know from their past, they’ve covered literature, cinema and even dabbled in video game adapted movies like Resident Evil on ‘Rainy Day‘, but where does it end for the band’s influences and inspirations? I pressed on about the idea of the band tackling horror video games like Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark and The Last of Us and as Spencer says, the possibilities are endless for where the band could end up next:
“Oh man, I think that would be really really cool. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I think the idea of Ice Nine Kills making horror games, horror theme parks, horror haunted houses and horror movies are all on the table…”
But, let’s not jump too far ahead, let’s live in the moment and take in what the band have carefully constructed for us on The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood – a brand new album full of thrills, blood spills and Ice Nine Kills doing what they do unlike anyone else before them – successfully combining heavy music with the wonderful/theatrical world of horror… You can quote me on that too!
Words by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul
Listen to the full interview below OR stream on the go via your fav podcast app here
The Silver Scream 2 is out October 15th via Fearless Records
Pre-order here
Ice Nine Kills – The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood tracklisting
1. Opening Night…
2. Welcome To Horrorwood
3. A Rash Decision
4. Assault & Batteries
5. The Shower Scene
6. Funeral Derangements
7. Rainy Day
8. Hip To Be Scared (ft. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach)
9. Take Your Pick (ft. Corpsegrinder of Cannibal Corpse)
10. The Box (ft. Brandon Saller of Atreyu and Ryan Kirby of Fit For A King)
11. F.L.Y. (ft. Buddy Nielsen of Senses Fail)
12. Würst Vacation
13. Ex-Mørtis
14. Farewell II Flesh
