The Silver Scream is the perfect Halloween album for lovers of horror and heavy metal.
Released on Oct. 5, 2018, The Silver Scream is metalcore band Ice Nine Kills’ (INK) fifth studio album, but the first to receive critical acclaim. As lead singer Spencer Charnas says in the bridge of “Hip to be Scared,” the lead single from the sequel album The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood:
“[INK’s] early work was a little bit too ‘scene’ for me, but when The Silver Scream came out, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a refined melodic sensibility that really makes it a cut above the rest.”
I have to agree with this satirized version of Patrick Bateman, the lead character from the book-adapted film American Psycho, whose inclusion here may give you a hint of what kind of “cut” Ice Nine Kills purports.
See, the concept to the track-list on The Silver Scream is that each song is inspired by a horror movie. It may seem a bit cliche at first, but the album’s songs put their corresponding horror movies to excellent use. Both lyrics and sound evoke each film, and the songs stand on their own even uncoupled from the niche.
Overall, it makes for a memorable front-to-back listen that will make you thrash and get you in the Halloween mood as the nights get colder and longer.
The album begins with “The American Nightmare,” inspired by A Nightmare on Elm Street. Opening with an overheard television broadcast about the importance of sleep, Charnas sings the listener “a lullaby, a melody for heavy eyes,” as though he were lulling us to sleep — a sleep that Freddy fans will know is deadly.
Sure enough, the next line promises that “early to bed” means “early to die” and Charnas screams the listener into their “worst nightmare” or in our case, a wondrous dream of guitar riffing and head banging.
“I’m slashing my way through the golden age of the silver scream,” Charnas sings at the end of the chorus, a line that appropriately foreshadows the arrival of two more horror legends: Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.
These characters come in the next two songs, “Thank God It’s Friday,” inspired by Friday the 13th, and “Stabbing in the Dark,” inspired by Halloween.
“Thank God It’s Friday” begins with acoustic instrumentals as if it’s being sung around the campfire at Crystal Lake, the campground setting of the film. The acoustic sound doesn’t stay for long, but the cadence of a campfire song returns in the chorus, even when the song marches along with its aggressive drumbeat, its tempo calling to mind Jason’s stalking pace past pine trees and camp cabins.
The final homage to the film comes at the end when a serene instrumental break is violently interrupted by one final savage chant of “ki ki ki ma ma ma,” representing Jason’s sudden leap from the lake at the original movie’s end.
“Stabbing In the Dark” keeps up the album’s flow with a melodramatic intro that fits the sombre and sinister tone of its movie inspiration. As hospital alarms blare in the background, the song launches into an electrifying, full-bodied guitar riff and the song comes into its own. Halloween’s iconic stinger is introduced after Charnas taunts, “you can’t kill the boogeyman!” and continues in true metal fashion through the bridge and into the song’s triumphant climax.
“SAVAGES” brings the golden age of horror movies to an end — at least in this album — in what I feel is the weakest of these first four songs, but still a solid addition to this repertoire, with a chanting quality that makes it sound like an anthem for horror lovers, a trend we’ll see again soon.
“We are the SAVAGES, eating you alive / The original villains in the night,” sings Charnas, cheekily reminding listeners that although this is the fourth song on the album and the previous three villains are more instantly iconic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out in 1974, four years before Halloween, six before Friday the 13th and 10 before A Nightmare on Elm Street.
“SAVAGES” begins a slight lull in the album, at least in my opinion, which continues into “The Jig is Up” inspired by Saw and “A Grave Mistake” inspired by The Crow. Both songs have their highs and lows — for “The Jig is Up,” the high comes once again in the form of the Saw stinger and the smart lyrics — and they are solid songs, just not standouts on the album.
“A Grave Mistake” feels like a safer song, an entry point into the band for people who may be apprehensive about the intense vocals and heavier sound that much of the album thrives on. Interestingly, the song received the most recognition from the album, reaching number nine on the Mainstream Rock Billboard music chart. Debates about The Crow question if it should be classified as a horror movie, with many calling it borderline horror. To me, this lends to the more general appeal of “A Grave Mistake,” but you’ll have to listen to the album and give it your own thoughts.
I don’t have much to say about “Rocking the Boat” other than that it’s a solid and heavy song about a “SHAAAAARK!” — in this case the most iconic shark ever, from Jaws. There are many fish-inspired lyrics, and as you may have guessed, the best part of the song in my opinion is the bridge, where they use the iconic Jaws stinger to perfection — an ominous, increasing rhythm that ramps up as the song gets faster and heavier.
“Enjoy Your Slay” is an awesome and intense song that perfectly encapsulates the slow-burning mania of its source material, The Shining. It is macabre and haunting at times, with witty lyrics like “Welcome to your last resort / Don’t overlook the past / If you need help finding peace of mind / Don’t hesitate to axe,” and grows more brutally vicious as it continues: “Oh, I’m not going to hurt you / I’m just gonna bash your f****** brains in.”
Sam Kubrick provides his guttural voice to the latter half of the song, a perfect addition to the tone made even more fitting considering his grandfather, Stanley Kubrick, was the director, producer and co-writer of The Shining. Charnas combines gleeful lunacy with violent depravity in his vocals, a wondrous combination that will find its perfect home at the end of the album.
Unfortunately, while “Enjoy Your Slay” is a shining point of The Silver Scream, the next two songs continue the lull.
“Freak Flag” is an anthem for horror lovers in the same vein as “SAVAGES,” only even more so. With lyrics like, “Rise up if you agree / And let your freak flags fly / We’re all messed up inside / And forced to act like everything’s alright,” the song speaks to the rejects of society.
This makes sense considering the title of the source film, The Devil’s Rejects, but it doesn’t much relate to the movie itself. Perhaps my apprehension comes from the depravity of the movie, which this song seems to support, but perhaps I’m just a hypocrite. Who knows? “Freak Flag” is still a solid song, despite it not being my favourite.
“The World In My Hands” feels like another safer song based on another borderline horror movie, in this case, Edward Scissorhands. It goes hard in some of the instrumental sections and has fun lyrics based on the premise, like when it discusses “an itch that can’t be scratched” or mentions hedges. Moreover, the ending features a nice keening and tragic guitar solo, but this one isn’t my favourite either.
The lull ends with “Merry Axe-Mas,” one of my favourite songs on the album for the sheer fun it purports, as cheesy slashers like its source material, Silent Night Deadly Night, are meant to do.
This Christmas-themed song works so well because of how much it leans into its Christmas theme: jolly sleigh bells are used in tandem with wicked guitar shreds and metal choir voices sing about “the meaning of Christmas,” in this case to punish and slaughter as many naughty people as you can.
It’s hokey and it knows it, describing how “Santa’s claws are out” and “the noose was yule-tide tight” while singing about “slashing through the snow” and “mistletoe tags.” At the same time, the song speeds along at a breakneck pace, unceasing in its mightiness and providing an exhilarating ‘slay’ ride through heavy metal breakdowns and hoarse screams.
“Love Bites” succeeds where “The World In My Hands” falters. The song maintains its tragic tone throughout its entirety, unlike “The World In My Hands,” which flips between hard and tragic and can’t seem to decide which it wants to be. “Love Bites” centres around a keening and mournful guitar riff, an emotional song through and through.
Perhaps the stronger tone comes from the more prominent horror tones present in the source film, An American Werewolf in London, in which the main character fears killing someone he loves due to his lycanthropy. Guest vocalist Chelsea Talmadge duets perfectly with Charnas in this song, standing apart from many of the other guest vocalists whose sound can blend into that of the overall heavy metal.
Closing out the album is one of The Silver Scream’s best songs, the IT-inspired “IT Is the End.” Much like how Charnas’ voice lent well to the lunacy in “Enjoy Your Slay,” this is even more prevalent here as he provides his take on Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a psychotic and supernatural child-eating monster. Charnas sounds absolutely insane, taking endless glee in the carnage he inflicts within his underground big top, joking and choking that he’s got “some big f****** shoes to fill.”
“IT Is the End” is wonderful, featuring brass instruments and teeny horns to combine circus music with a racing heavy metal sound that provides the perfect conclusion to the album. As Charnas says, “It’s everything you know / It’s everything you fear” from The Silver Scream, but it’s also so much more.
And surprise! If you give the album’s deluxe edition a listen, you’ll find some acoustic and live versions of songs, a decent cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and a bonus original song inspired by Scream, “Your Number’s Up.”
This is another banger, starting with a seemingly innocent phone call that turns into a horrific game of cat and mouse, just like in the movie. The whole song is a dialogue between the killer and the victim, emulating the opening scene of the self-referential slasher flick and bringing the album’s original songs to a violent end as the victim’s knifing is heard over the phone.
The Silver Scream is a chugging monster of an album, perfect for the Halloween season and when you’re furiously writing last minute assignments for midterms.
Whether you’re a heavy metal and horror fan or you’ve never explored the genres, The Silver Scream is worth checking out.
This is the first of a two-part series. Stay tuned to The Brock Press for a retrospective on The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood.