During the Guild strikes in 2023, the YouTube channel Dead Meat pivoted from doing their trademark "Kill Counts" on horror (or horror-adjacent) movies, to non-struck horror (or horror-adjacent) "media" like video games, Adult Swim shorts, and music videos, to support the workers striking. They did a video on the album "The Silver Scream," by metalcore band Ice Nine Kills, since the songs are all based on horror (or horror-adjacent) movies, and the videos are not only based on their movie counterparts, but also have an interconnected narrative with horror elements as well. I'd heard the band's name before, but assumed they were mumble-rappers lol. I watched the KC anyway, because I'm just that much of a fan of the channel.
(Last Saturday, the 2nd, I got to meet James & Chelsea at Flashback horror con here in Chicago, thanks to one friend, and I got to thank James for introducing me to the band)
(What really sucks is the lead singer, Spencer, was also supposed to be at that convention, but he'd woken up that Friday morning with a sinus infection, and had to cancel, unfortunately. The INK table [still manned for merch] was even next to Dead Meat's, which is doubly funny since J&C have become close friends with Spencer & his fiancée.)
Welp, they are decidedly NOT mumble-rap, thankfully, lol (they started as a ska band, and then gradually got more & more "screamy" & harder as time went on). I'm not huge into screaming in music, but the theming to movies, clever puns/in-jokes/references from said movies, and just really catchy (non-screaming) vocals, I fell in love, and I fell HARD. I quickly dove headfirst not only into the entire album (the videos don't cover every track, obviously), but the sequel "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood," as well. The more I listened to these two albums, the more I fell in love. And not just with the gimmick, but amidst the movie references, the other lyrics started hitting home emotionally more and more (the Edward Scissorhands song "The World in My Hands" fits being physically disabled & Neurodivergent in an able-bodied Neurotypical world quite fucking succinctly, and the Jaws song "Rocking The Boat" is a PHENOMENAL "Eat The Rich" song [plus, they also manage to seamlessly work in all their previous album titles into its lyrics as well]).
I started reading up on the band, and watching videos about them on YouTube (if you can watch Finn McKenty's video on them without giving that fake asshole the views, I'd recommend it lol). I ended up discovering their previous album, "Every Trick in the Book" is all based on novels (with some of them, Dracula, The Exorcist, Carrie, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, even ticking that "horror" box that drew me in). Most of the songs are identical in style to their following Silver Scream installments, with only a little bit of emo bleeding in (and man, being a massive Shakespeare fan, their song "Star-Crossed Enemies" is AMAZING).
It wasn't long until I then started just working my way backwards through their catalogue. Before long, they'd replaced Thirty Seconds To Mars as my "favorite band of all time." I've gotten a few friends into them since, including my best female friend, Kat (who quizzes me in my own YouTube trivia videos - shameful self-promotion).
Who, on my birthday, this past Saturday, "kidnapped" me to drive us two+ hours away to surprise me with seeing INK in concert for the first time.
I am vehemently NOT a concert person, and the heat that day in IL was particularly horrific, but it was really incredible. Not only are they
good live (most of my concert going experiences have coincided with "off their game" singers), but they put on a hell of a show, really playing into the horror aesthetic, as well as imagery & skits from the beloved films (and they also satisfied a question I'd had if they'd still do the horror-connected songs from ETitB with their current sets, as they played "Me, Myself & Hyde" and "Hell in the Hallways" [Carrie]!). (They also played a non-themed song from their further back catalogue, though while I recognized it, it wasn't one of the ones I'd latched onto, but still a great performance, and enough of the crowd knew enough of it to sing along.)
As someone who takes a long time to learn songs, I was especially proud that when they played their newest song, "The Great Unknown" (The Matrix lol), when it came to the lyric "there is no spoon" and Spencer turned the mic to the crowd, I was one of only, like, 12 people who knew to sing along, haha.
Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to share with you all, as I'm really loving this board & community (like, I had no idea so many of you actually
liked me over on Fwoosh lol

), and since there was no concert thread, I felt this was the best fit for such a post.