The Silver Scream

I saw this meme maybe about a year ago now, and it was effectively a cartoon strip of some kid skipping through town singing ‘This Is Halloween’ whilst punching random things. I didn’t really get it then but now that October’s come back around again I’ve figured it out: it’s about being aggressively pumped for Halloween. 

Like, in a ‘cute aggression’ way (if you aren’t sure what that is, here’s a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cute_aggression).

I can totally relate to that this year. 

A year ago I was teetering on heartbreak and about ready to have a breakdown, but this year despite the fact that I don’t have a permanent home, I’ve been house-hunting for months and that I’m living off protein shakes I’m doing ok. I’ll go over the house-hunting when it’s even less raw than today because it’s been a task for sure. 

So, you could say I’m aggressively pumped for Halloween. 

My usual party at the museum isn’t on this year due to renovations and although I’ve got plans for the night it sort of feels like everyone else is too preoccupied to be that keen. I feel like I’m carrying the torch a bit for Australia. I even bought some Halloween decorations to decorate the house I don’t have (Next year!).

I started early with the celebrations and horror content this year which led me to ‘discover’ this amazing music album:

The Silver Scream by Ice Nine Kills

Forgive me if you’ve already heard of it since it was released October of last year, but neither I or any of my friends had. 

It randomly came on the Spotify Halloween shuffle, I heard the homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween and wondered what in the sweet devil I was listening to. 

Ice Nine Kills is an American band fronted by hottie, Spencer Charnas, who sounds like Brendon Urie’s voice double if Panic at the Disco was just a tad more screamo metal. I’m generally not into screamo metal, but this album is just so good plus the melodic parts totally over come the screamo parts. It’s more like theatrical metal with a bit of screamo seasoning.

But the real masterpiece comes from the album’s concept and that its a loving homage to horror films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, the Shining, Jaws, Saw, Nightmare on Elm St, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Devil’s Rejects, Silent Night, Deadly Night, It and American Werewolf in London. Edward Scissorhands and the Crow are there too for good measure. 

The album consists of 13 songs (because of course) and each song represents a different film. They’re all pretty dark content like their film counterparts but they’re so cleverly written and interpreted that they just work so well. The melody to each is so great too that it’s like listening to a rock opera à la Phantom of the Opera or the slasher musical, Stage Fright. 

I really just can’t praise it enough and I think I’ve listened through the whole thing maybe 5 or 6 times since yesterday (it would be more but I’m not allowed my headphones at work anymore). 

The first song I heard, 'Stabbing in the Dark', remains my favourite but each song has its great qualities and I think all of them have very catchy choruses/melodies. For example, the song 'Love Bites' is an homage to An American Werewolf in London interpreted as a love song and 'The World in My Hands', about Edward Scissorhands, is a sad song about feeling everything slip through your fingers when you were so close to happiness. It’s a direct reference to the scene when Edward’s creator dies right in front of him upon completion of his new, regular hands and Edward, who tries to catch the new hands, accidentally shreds them: https://youtu.be/m355Zag_G8E

Heartbreaking. But also Vincent Price is there and his voice is super iconic.

Here’s a list of the album’s songs and the films they represent:

The American Nightmare - Nightmare On Elm St

Thank God it’s Friday - Friday the 13th

Stabbing in the Dark - Halloween

Savages - Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Jig is Up - Saw

A Grave Mistake - The Crow

Rocking the Boat - Jaws

Enjoy Your Slay - The Shining

Freak Flag - The Devil’s Rejects

The World in My Hands - Edward Scissorhands

Merry Axe-mas - Silent Night, Deadly Night

It is the End - It

Here’s a couple of my favourite lyric snippets just to show great the writing is:

When the hands of fate
Fall on the midnight hour
Behind this mask of hate
I don the devil's power
If there's life in the shadows
Let the knife leave its mark
When the certainty of safety feels like stabbing
Stabbing in the dark
- 'Stabbing in the Dark'

• 
  

Welcome to your last resort don't overlook the past
If you need help finding piece of mind don't hesitate to axe
They can see the vacancy so say goodbye to sanity

- 'Enjoy Your Slay'

Catch me at the big top buried underground
You know I'm not clowning around
Even with a smile from ear to fucking ear
It's everything you know, it's everything you fear
A carnival of carnage that much you assume
But it's more than just a costume and red balloons
It's coming back around every 27 years
It's everything you know, it's everything you fear

- 'It Is the End'

You can see a full list of lyrics here: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/iceninekills/thesilverscream.html

I mean come on, its just so awesome. I'm obsessed.

Here’s a link to the album if you want to listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ice+nine+kills+

You can also search on Spotify, but not if you don't have Spotify.

This is not sponsored.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Sam xox

P.S. if you watch the music videos in sequence on YouTube they tell an overarching story about a revenge plot on a psychologist. The acting isn’t amazing, in fact its kind of bad, but it’s fun.

Enjoy your slay!