ICE NINE KILLS

Spencer Charnas is a man of unusual tastes. As horror metallers Ice Nine Kills unveil their grandest vision yet, we dig into the frontman’s fascinating story

They’re massive horror nerds, and with their latest album they’re bringing their ghastly visions to life like never before.

Spencer Charnas has lived his whole life in the shadow of death. The Ice Nine Kills vocalist grew up just two miles from Salem, a town made famous by the witchcraft trials of 1692; its grisly history was part of his school curriculum, and he and his classmates were taught about hangings and black magic on field trips. It makes our educational outings to Hadrian’s Wall seem pretty tame.

“I became fascinated with it and inspired by that sort of darkness. I guess that’s partially responsible for why I’m drawn to the sinister side of art,” reasons Spencer, recalling the origins of his love for horror and metal. That lifelong obsession has led his band to new album The Silver Scream: a conceptual record stacked with ghastly bangers that might just make Ice Nine Kills the undisputed face of horror metal.

The seeds for the album were sown more than two decades ago when Spencer was just eight years old. Having already fallen in love with Nirvana and pop-punk, he was introduced to metal by his uncle, who got him into Metallica. Around the same time, with morbid curiosity already piqued by his hometown’s gruesome past, he developed an insatiable taste for the macabre.

“I remember gazing at the covers of the VHS tapes in the video store at a very young age,” he says. “I really wanted to know what Halloween was about, just seeing the pumpkin on the front with the butcher knife. That was the first one I ever saw and Michael Myers scared the hell out of me. Then I rented all the other Halloweens and Friday The 13ths and some of the more obscure cult classics, like Silent Night, Deadly Night.”

Listening to Spencer talk about horror, it’s immediately clear what a devoted and passionate fan he is as he gleefully considers which film character he most identifies with – FYI, it’s Scream’s Ghostface – and chooses his favourite ever movie death scene with infectious enthusiasm – “One of my favourites is in Silent Night, Deadly Night. He picks up this girl and impales her on deer antlers on the wall, it’s a really artistically interesting kill.”

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for him to merge his love of unnerving imagery and metal, firstly through Cannibal Corpse, and then bands like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, who also threw theatrics into the mix.

“I was always a big fan of how much of a show those bands put on whenever I saw them play,” he recalls. “It was a real performance. My dad bought me the Antichrist Superstar album, we got it home, opened it up, and in the picture was Marilyn Manson pissing into a tube that went into the other bandmembers’ mouths. I remember him seeing that and immediately returning it!”

The image struck a chord, though. Spencer formed Ice Nine Kills when he was still in high school. Back then it had a completely different line-up and was a pop-punk, ska-influenced project, but after a few years, Spencer realised he wanted to front something with pointier teeth. By that point he had amassed a vast variety of influences, and melded his love of horror with 2000s metalcore bands like As I Lay Dying and West End musicals like The Phantom Of The Opera