THE SILVER SCREAM TOUR WITH ICE NINE KILLS

ICE 9 KILLS | CONCERT REVIEW | DALLAS, TX | HOUSE OF BLUES | 11-12-19
SUPPORT: AWAKE AT LAST | LIGHT THE TORCH | FIT FOR A KING

Last week, after the disappointing news of a show I was looking forward to for like half a year cancelled, I immediately focused my attention on the next show that I had been dying to go to: ICE NINE KILLS: THE SILVER SCREAM TOUR! With a line up that bolstered some killer musicians, Tuesday couldn’t get here fast enough! Of course, the week before the show, I would have to have come down with some kind of malaria-like sickness and though I felt like my head was being held underwater by some large, gloved hand, I fought it off and couldn’t wait to get to the show for some Movie-Metal with ICE NINE KILLS.

Have you seen this band live?? I ask this straight up, because if you’re a music snob and have passed over this band because you might think they’re gimmicky, a fad, a phase, or something of the like, then you really should adjust your judge-o-meter and give them another glance. I saw them earlier this year when they came through with a band I was covering and like a young vampire craves the carnal smoothies, I instantly became a FFL (Fan For Life)!! ICE NINE KILLS doesn’t have an ounce of gimmick to their schickt; in fact the music and the band’s costuming isn’t as gimmicky as some of those slasher movies of the 80’s are that they’ve paid homage to.

Let’s all time travel to 2019 and skip all the history of the band - that's what the internet is for and asking other fans what they like about the band. More importantly, I’m not going to do all the work for y’all; or at least those who have yet to know this band like a Friday the 13th loves bad luck. You’re going to have to do that yourselves my little Lovelies! Plus, it takes all the fun out of doing “research” on the internet. I mean, at least you don’t have to use the card catalog in a school library like some of us had to. And while some of ICE NINE KILLS’ fans probably have no clue what the Dewey Decimal System is, I can guarantee you that if you do look these guys up and take a listen, you’ll love them too. I mean their fans affinity for the band comes from more than just theatricore music that has somewhat lightly put the band on the map of metalcore.

The catchy tunes aren’t really even created to mirror the plots or scenes of iconic horror movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th, at least from my interpretation of the band’s current plays from The Silver Scream, it’s more of a light splattering of inspiration than taking the same theme or plot from the movie and turning it into a song. There’s clever plays on words and phrases that are brilliant AF and imagery of the characters, but there is definitely an overwhelming sense of inspiration and not interpretation.

On my first encounter with the band, I was familiar with the song “The American Nightmare” but wasn’t clued into the stage show until I happened to see them when I covered FROM ASHES TO NEW. ICE NINE KILLS provided main support to CROWN THE EMPIRE and well, to be honest that night, my name should have been Carrie and not Cherri, because had I alerted the masses that I hadn’t fully been schooled on both ICE NINE KILLS and CROWN THE EMPIRE, they would all point at me yelling “they’re all going to laugh at you!” or I would have had cow blood dumped on my head upon exiting the venue.

To say ICE NINE KILLS puts on an energetic show would be like me thinking The Blair Witch Project was a documentary, and totally wrong. Their show isn’t just energetic, it’s freakishly fabulous with not only killer music to listen to but rad costumes (and costume changes) to please even the pickiest of music and scary movie fans, both. While creating costuming that keeps looking fresh for a whole month or more tour is tricky and sometimes very difficult to do, ICE NINE KILLS pulls it off without a hitch! That’s not to say that they don’t have Make Up or a Special Effects artist on tour with them to make sure they are murder movie set ready!

ICE NINE KILLS at HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS was a bigger production than the last time I saw them, but the show’s magnitude and mixed wizardry, was just as good if not better! You’ll have to check out the show pics to see what I mean, because the lighting, stage props, and the member’s costumes and makeup were spot on! I think this is one of the reasons that I dig this band because the fusion between what I hear and see really compliments each other; there isn’t one that overpowers the other on stage.

Wait, you didn’t think that was all, did you? Um, as if I was going to wrap this up like the Speaker Of The House does a smear campaign without telling you about the music...sheesh! You should know me better than that that Pretties!! You know that while I think that anyone that has the ‘nads to get up on stage in a musical group and not crap their pants every set they play are heroes and I hate to ever be critical of any band’s show, you don’t have to worry. That is not happening here with ICE NINE KILLS or really, any other band I cover for y’all, ever.

Musically, live, ICE NINE KILLS show here, went down like Jason did in Crystal Lake, HARD!! And by hard, I mean in a good way, ya? I don’t mean that they drowned or sank like Jason did - after all, had he not, FRIDAY THE 13TH, et al would never have made it to the moving silver screen, now would it? Let me explain a bit in detail, m’kay?

With SPENCER CHARNAS and RICKY ARMELLINO (rhythm guitar) tag teaming the vocals in the band and JOE OCCHIUTI (bass, keyboards), and DAN SUGARMAN (lead guitar) dropping the backing vocals, their sound has a huge presence on stage that fans sing along with, never missing a beat. Which of course leads me to, duh, PATRICK GALANTE the drummer - who keeps it all in the lines with fantastic timing.

Now, for those nerds that out there that love the symph/prog/math kind of metal, you’ve got a treat from DAN as his guitars will make you question just how fast fingers can accurately move! I can also really appreciate the sticks in the stays of the bass lines from JOE’S bass lines. ICE NINE KILLS is a band that you can toss yourself up in the air so that the crowd flings you towards the stage (those of you that are into that sort of thing) and there are points for the metalcore maniacs that like to growl and scream that you’ll swear you horked up your voice box out onto the floor singing, or growling along.

There wasn’t any time in the set where I felt distracted - the band has the innate talent of keeping a person with severe ADHD completely focused from start to finish! I was hyper focused, jamming out to the hits and not one time was I pulled away by a shiny metal object!

I will mention here, if you’re a sucker for prose that lends to the reader’s interpretation, you’ll enjoy the lyrics of the songs like “A Grave Mistake” just take a listen to it or watch the OMV that I’ve included for your viewing pleasure. My standout songs for their Dallas set were “Stabbing In The Dark” and “The American Nightmare”.

I loved how the band came out swinging and kept it up for their entire set. Now, if you think that’s a feat that every band does when they play out, think again. I’ve seen some pretty well-known bands start strong and fizzle out half-way or sooner into their set. It is noteworthy to discuss in a show review because who wants to go see a half assed rock show? That’s what I thought! And this is why ICE NINE KILLS works so well, because they pack a punch on tour even with the additional time it takes to get makeup and costumes and then costume changes during the set - they are still able to level up on each new tour that they go out with or headline themselves.

If you have the chance to see the band on this tour, do it. You’ll be as happy as anyone who thinks they’ve escaped their demise in any horror flick. Only you, my Lovelies, you actually get to go home instead of having your smiley happy face last only for a second as you’re gutted by a chainsaw, samurai sword, nest of bees in a creepy man’s jacket, or a puzzle of death made by a weirdo behind glass luring kids out of hostels! That, I promise you!

ICE NINE KILLS is on tour in the US through the end of November and then it’s off to Australia for some dates down under! You can plan your calendar accordingly by clicking www.bandsintown.com/en/a/1610-ice-nine-kills for the remaining dates and to purchase tickets!

Oh, and of course I have a story about FIT FOR A KING, LIGHT THE TORCH, and AWAKE AT LAST, but that bedtime book will have to be opened another night. I’m out of room for tonight’s story, sad to say. Enjoy the show shots though and as always…

Til Next Time - MRML - Cherri

OMV for “Savages” - WATCH BELOW!

ICE NINE KILLS - SOCIALS
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Tags:  ICE NINE KILLS, THE SILVER SCREAM TOUR, SAVAGES, THEATRICORE 

Cherri Bird    November 15, 2019