Album Review: Ice Nine Kills – I Heard They KILL Live!!

With live shows and cinematic thrills both still largely off the cards, Ice Nine Kills are here to combine both with their first full live album. June’s Undead & Unplugged: Live From the Overlook Hotel EP was a special acoustic set-piece recorded at the hotel Stanley Kubrick’s classic version of The Shining was filmed in, but I Heard They KILL Live!! – complete with that knowing NOFX reference in the title – presents the band in their full blood-soaked, electrified glory.

As such it’s the perfect showcase for their suitably serrated, horror-obsessed metalcore assault. It starts with a trip to Crystal Lake via Thank God It’s Friday, before The Jig Is Up visits the Saw franchise and ups the aggression levels to close to deathcore intensity. If you’re not overly familiar with their catalogue, half the fun is in playing spot the celluloid (or literary) inspiration. Much of the set is culled from 2018’s The Silver Scream and references the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Savages) and Halloween (Stabbing In The Dark). The Jaws-themed Rocking The Boat is particularly notable for its genius breakdown based on the film’s iconic duh-DUN soundtrack.

Elsewhere, Tess-Timony presents one of music’s worst ever puns and a piano-led ballad that strays from their usual horror fare to explore Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Me, Myself and Hyde switches mood as the lyrics change viewpoint and Love Bites brings big swaying melodies and a mass crowd singalong. IT Is The End makes for the perfect denouement with a full complement of grindcore energy and demonic clown honks. It’s quite a show, even if it’s one that largely reminds you of what you’re missing.

Verdict: 4/5

For Fans Of: Motionless In White, Famous Last Words, The Amity Affliction

I Heard They Kill Live is out now via Fearless.

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