Ice Nine Kills

Ice Nine Kills is an American heavy metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band's music is primarily described as horror-themed metalcore, but incorporates many other musical styles. It was originally a ska punk band called Ice Nine, formed in 2000 by high school friends Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz, before adopting a metalcore style in 2010. Charnas is currently the only remaining founding member. The band is signed to Fearless Records.

Ice Nine Kills has released three EPs along with six full-length studio albums: Last Chance to Make Amends, Safe Is Just a Shadow, The Predator Becomes the Prey, Every Trick in the Book, which peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200; The Silver Scream, which peaked at number 29; and their latest, The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood which peaked at number 18. Their band name is derived from the fictional substance ice-nine from the 1963 novel Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

In 2025, Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker included the band in his list of "the greatest metal acts that formed in the 2000s". In 2023, Jake Richardson of Loudwire included Spencer Charnas in his list of the "10 Best Clean Singers in Metalcore".

History

2000–2009: Formation and Last Chance to Make Amends

Ice Nine Kills was founded in 2000 under the name Ice Nine by high school friends Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz. They later recruited drummer Grant Newsted in 2003 and swapped out then-bassist Patrick Morse for Hobie Boeschenstein in 2004. In 2002, they recorded a demo, which would eventually be released in 2009 entitled The Pop-Punk-Ska Years. They changed their name to Ice Nine Kills just before releasing their debut independent album Last Chance to Make Amends on April 20, 2006.

The following year on November 20, 2007, Ice Nine Kills released their EP The Burning through Red Blue Records. The band then set out on several national tours in support of the EP, including opening slots on tours with I See Stars and Eyes Set to Kill among others. By 2008, the group had been invited to open for well-known acts such as As I Lay Dying, A Day to Remember, Thursday, Paramore and a one-off performance on the Taste of Chaos 2009 tour. That same year, Ice Nine Kills released two acoustic tracks ("The Simple Act of Giving Up" and "Lifetime in a Week") on an EP titled 2 Song Acoustic.

In mid-2009, Schwartz left the band after struggling with life on the road, leaving Charnas as the only original member. Charnas then recruited former members of the Rochester-based post-hardcore band Remember Tomorrow which had recently disbanded and stopped playing rhythm guitar. This shifted Ice Nine Kills' sound into more of an experimental metalcore sound to which Ferret Music took notice. The label signed the band in the spring of 2009 and, after their appearance on Warped Tour 2009, the band began writing and recording their next record.

2010–2013: Safe Is Just a Shadow and The Predator

Ice Nine Kills released their second full-length album Safe Is Just a Shadow on July 12, 2010. Vocalist Dave Sieling, who has since left the band, contributed clean vocals along with Spencer Charnas. The album received praise from heavy metal magazine, Revolver in the 2010 Hottest Chicks in Rock Issue and subsequently the band was invited to attend the Revolver Golden Gods awards in Los Angeles CA on April 20, 2010. The band supported Safe Is Just a Shadow with a two-week appearance on Warped Tour 2010, and a supporting slot with Michigan-based nu metal band Taproot. The band performed on a headlining tour in the summer of 2011 as well as a performance at the Darien Lake NY stop of Warped Tour 2011 on the Dzambo Stage. The band released a music video inspired by the film Inglourious Basterds for their song "The People Under the Stairs".

On May 12, 2012, it was announced that the band would be the opening act for the 2012 edition of The All Stars Tour featuring Suicide Silence, The Word Alive, Dance Gavin Dance, I See Stars, and Attila.

On November 22, 2012, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to fund their new EP. On December 22 the band announced that they had raised over $21,000 for their Kickstarter campaign and that their new EP The Predator would be released on January 15, 2013. To celebrate this announcement they released a second single from the EP entitled "What I Never Learned In Study Hall" featuring guest vocals from Tyler Carter vocalist of Issues. The acoustic version of the song was released on January 8 on the Take Action compilation volume 11 via Hopeless Records.

The band's second EP entitled The Predator was released on January 15, 2013, and debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

On April 26, 2013, the band released a stand-alone single called "The Product of Hate", the song was released as a fundraising way to help the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

On July 9, 2013, the band released the official video for the song "The Coffin Is Moving".

On November 4, 2013, the band released a new single titled, "Connect the Cuts".