Ice Nine Thrills: Silver Screamathon Kills at Minneapolis Theatre
Ice Nine Kills fans bought their tickets and packed The Fillmore to capacity from opening to end credits as night one of Silver Screamathon played at The Fillmore Minneapolis.
Ice Nine Kills’ double-feature showcases two of their popular albums over two separate evenings. Night one delivered The Silver Scream in order and in its entirety. And with plenty of horror movie portrayals that kept their ardent fans entertained.
As the stage was enveloped in fog, dual screens flickered like old televisions, playing a series of commercials, news clips, and infomercials from the 1980s and earlier. It set the stage for their nostalgia-laden evening of classic horror film-inspired songs.
Ice Nine Kills entered to instant cheers and smartphones on record. The crowd escalated these cheers to palpable excitement when dashing frontman Spencer Charnas entered the stage and donned Freddy Krueger’s iconic bladed glove.
From there, the band went into “The American Nightmare”, a rousing anthem-esque song inspired by the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street. As Charnas sang (along with a few bandmates), guitars shredded, voices growled, drums pounded, and a horn section—yes, horn section—trumpted along.
It also set the tone for a parade of horror movie villains gracing the stage throughout the night. From Jason Voorhees to Hannibal Lecter, Leatherface to the great white shark from Jaws, they hacked, stabbed, and danced across the stage during respective songs. Even the histrionic Charnas occasionally donned masks and accessories similar to those of the villains.
Yet despite the horror, the added appeal of Ice Nine kills is how they have fun with the genre. For example, “Thank God It’s Friday” is the title of the song inspired by Friday the 13th. Thank God? For a movie and subsequent sequels that slaughter how many people? And other songs like “Stabbing in the Dark” and “Rocking the Boat” lean on further humorous word play for movies.
Because unlike other dark, mask-wearing metal bands, Ice Nine Kills embraces that darkness but laughs at it. Isn’t that part of the fun of horror movies? And Ice Nine Kills is masterful at entertaining, but not at the sacrifice of a good song. Horn solos during “IT is the End”? An evil Santa bestowing balloons on the audience during “Merry Axe-mas”? Here for it all.
Further complementing the performances were deftly crafted video interludes. Like Chianti wine and fava bean commercials before The Silence of the Lambs-inspired “Meat and Greet”. Probably the darkest yet most creative was a commercial featuring O.J. Simpson, the “I didn’t kill my wife” clip from the movie The Fugitive, and crime scene news footage before “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.
Warning: viewer discretion is advised:
Opening the evening were three bands. First, Melrose Avenue all the way from Australia, who naturally dropped a “g’day” on the audience. While playing songs like “Body Bag” and “Through Hell”, the band sounded more melodic than song titles may indicate. Lead singer Vlado Saric seemed to have a little Brendon Urie in him, too.
Perhaps the most entertaining of the openers was the second, The Funeral Portrait. Their high-kicking energy was matched only by the joy they had performing, a joy that was genuine and grateful. Many audience members sang along to their songs, too. Highlights of their set included “Holy Water” and their closing song “Suffocate City”.
The final opener was perhaps the heaviest, The Word Alive. Leaning on hard riffs and pounding percussion, the band rocked hardest while leading the audience into creating mosh pits. They also treated them to an unreleased song before the crescendo of their closing song “Life Cycles”.
What’s to be scared of? Ice Nine Kills plays the horrorcore genre to perfection with award-winning metal performances. The only thing missing is the popcorn.
