Of course, I had heard about that metal band whose songs were all themed around horror films. I had heard about their crazy stage shows and creepy lyrics. As someone who isn’t really a horror fan, I can’t say I was ever drawn by it. However, I’ve always believed that seeing music is a more pungent experience than simply listening to my metal-head friends rave about it. So, I had high hopes for Ice Nine Kills.
Supported by the iconic SKYND – an electronic goth duo airing on the side of Halloweencore, as I have taken to calling it (within which I include any music that specifically discusses death and the macabre in a spooky, stripped-knee-socks and pale makeup capacity), before the headline show, Manchester Academy was soaked in room-shaking bass and songs with lyrics about school shootings which, even after further listens, I’m unclear on the message of.
“No vendetta, seeking fame. Bombs and bullets, it’s just a game we play…”
Following a gradual stage change-over, which featured some orange balloons launched into the waiting audience, the reveal of a skeleton-encased microphone stand, and the entirety of Nick Cave’s ‘Red Right Hand’, five finely-dressed men in tuxedos take the stage, and blast into the opening track – Funeral Derangements. It’s a crazy mix of rhythms and chorus hooks. Blast beats and breakdowns between verses that wouldn’t have been out of place in a deranged circus performance. A guitarist steps forward to play a tapping solo, while the backing vocalists and crowd shout together. Frontman Spencer Charnas jumps onto the monitor brandishing a shovel and waves a mask while chanting. This is exactly what I wanted from this show.
The stage lights change from blue, to red, to a sickly green. Actors flood the stage, now. Dancers and men in stained aprons. A character with a goat mask revs a chainsaw (which I hope is a prop), and it pours with smoke.
One of my favourite moments comes when Charnas is dressed – mid-song – in overalls and picks up an axe, and I immediately clock the ‘American Psycho’ reference. When another actor in suspenders staggers up to Charnas, shakily holding his drink, the vocalist stage-punches the actor perfectly in time with a sound effect. I prepare for what comes next; the lights bleed red as Charnas pretends to hack at the ‘unconscious’ businessman with an axe. A chilling sight, for sure. And incredibly aesthetic.
“Manchester, it is a horror and a pleasure to be with you!”
Ice Nine Kills’ live show is not just a gig, it is a whole stage performance, right down to the pantomime shouting. Despite not being a huge horror buff, I enjoyed the whole show, and it will long stick in my memory as one of the most unique I have been to.
