It’s STILL Spooky Season! This means I’m taking a look at another horror themed medium! Today we’re taking a look at a couple of albums that are entirely horror themed. The albums I’ll be looking at today are The Silver Scream and Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2 from band Ice Nine Kills.
Who is Ice Nine Kills?
Ice Nine Kills is a metalcore band from Boston formed back in 2000 in its earliest incarnation. Spencer Charnas is the only founding member left and is the lead vocalist. In 2015 they released a sort of concept album called Every Trick in the Book. This album would reference a famous piece of literature in every song. This would lead to the massively popular The Silver Scream album.
What is The Silver Scream?
The Silver Scream is an album that was released in October of 2018 that pulled a similar move as Every Trick in the Book, except the subjects of each track were all horror movies instead of literature. They really came into their own, commercially and artistically. It had this refined melodic sensibility that made it a cut above the rest.(If you know you know) In all seriousness the album really showed the love that the band has for horror in how it presented the tracks. Some of the franchises are your classics, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween. There are some more modern horror mainstays as well, such as Saw and The Devil’s Rejects. I could tell you more about each track, but honestly it’s better to just take a listen yourself! Can you place which franchises are associated with each track?
But Wait! There’s More!!!
In October of 2021 Ice Nine Kills released the much anticipated sequel to The Silver Scream! Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2 features tracks that include references to American Psycho, Hellraiser, Pet Sematary, and other horror fan favorites! I approached this album with a sense of cautious optimism, because let’s face it, horror doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to sequels. I was absolutely surprised at how good it is. The balance between the heavy and more melodic is on point. There are some amazing guest vocalists this time around, such as Buddy Nielsen, Jacoby Shaddix, and more! There is an amazing series of lore being shared through the music videos as well, same as the first The Silver Scream. There’s also a great mixture of modern and classic horror franchises referenced in the sequel. Take a listen and tell us what you think!
As I mentioned before the lore in the music videos is progressing and is very much worth a watch! You can check out the playlist of the music videos here!
