Doing Metalcore with ‘Ice Nine Kills - Safe Is Just A Shadow’

So, I’m reviewing a Metalcore band this week, and I’ll be completely honest with you. I’m not really a big fan of Metalcore. I know it’s a genre that’s really popular, and I can definitely see the appeal with it. But most bands I’ve come across under this umbrella are kind of boring. I don’t know, in my personal opinion, this genre has never really clicked with me too much. It’s painfully annoying at times when you want to get into heavy music, but so many Metalcore bands sound so similar to each other, oftentimes making music that’s unimaginative. Nevertheless, there are a few names that stand out to me, and that’s definitely something that can be said for this week’s band. So, let’s just jump right into this review. You’ve read the title, you know what I’m going to be talking about, and I’m sure that many of you are very excited.

I think most people have probably heard of Ice Nine Kills by this point. Even if you’ve never heard any songs by this recently prominent Metalcore band, you’ll have probably heard of the interesting, intellectual, and oftentimes gruesome concepts of their musical aesthetic. Perhaps their best known and most recent albums, ‘Every Trick In The Book’ and ‘The Silver Scream’ demonstrate the band at their absolute zenith, with powerful, quirky music, whimsical, clever lyrical content, and a dreadfully spooky and blood drenched visual language. If you came to the INK party around the time that I did, (late 2017) then you would’ve caught this group at its current best. But you also may not have realised that Ice Nine Kills had a mildly different beginning.

Initially, the band started out as a Ska Punk group with Pop-Punk and Post-Hardcore influences mixed in, and this is something very evident with their first studio album ‘Last Chance To Make Amends’. But as the line-up of band members changed, so too did the genre of music. Trading in their fun, more punky initial style, Ice Nine Kills began to aspire for something heavier, more startling, and if truth be told, strangely, a little more interesting. And a clear, earlier example of this group’s proficiency in their new-style would be ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’. When I decided to review Ice Nine Kills, I knew I wanted to go for an earlier album by them. One that I’d never heard all the way through and would perhaps challenge me a little bit. So when choosing their second studio release, I naturally braced myself for an album that might not really be my cup of tea. Despite enjoying INK’s fourth and fifth studio releases, I was a bit wary about listening to this one. But actually, I was pleasantly surprised.

From what I could grasp, ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’ has a different feel to it in comparison to other popular Metalcore albums. A continuous trend for most bands of this style tends to be a constant use of dark, heavy instrumentals, deep growling screamed vocals, and an overarching sense that you can just put a breakdown anywhere you want in a song and it’ll sound great, (Even if oftentimes it doesn’t). Overall, the general consensus for these bands and their early works is, be as heavy as possible, use low tones, and ‘if another band is doing it then we can too’. ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’ isn’t really like that. I mean, okay. If I was going to be really critical with this album, I’d say that there are still some trademark Metalcore signals.

We still have the usual screamed vocals in the verses, we still have the chugging jolts and jumps throughout, and the goal of the music is to be heavy by all means. But there is something about the songs on this album that feel a bit more fuller. Most of them are very easy for me to listen to. But that’s not because they're uninteresting or won’t challenge you, but rather because they’re fun and approachable despite their occasional cause for alarm. Even the most aggressive and abrupt songs like ‘Proximity Mines In The Complex’ and ‘Buildings Burn, People Die’ have playful, bouncy choruses that anyone can remember and enjoy. In my experiences of listening to different Metalcore bands, one big problem I had was that a lot of songs on a record would sound very similar to each other and I’d get pretty disinterested. But that’s not really the case with ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’.

Far from just having dull thuds with little tone, the heaviness that Ice Nine Kills demonstrates on here has a far more satisfying crunch to it. Rather than just having straightforward instrumentation and staple techniques, we have songs on this album that are rounded with riffs inspired by Melodic Death Metal and Mathcore, something which INK uses to an exciting result that fits very well. Verses and song structures are also given a lot more colouring with a variety of different vocals. Sure, we have deep death growls, but we’re also presented with some higher, more raspy fry vocals too, and you guys know how much I love high pitched screams. Clean vocals also tend to be given a lot more prominence and importance throughout most songs. Spencer Rink’s lovely singing voice has the opportunity to seep and flow throughout the choruses and verses, like in songs ‘Chris Brown’s Latest Hit’ and ‘Acceptance In Waves’. Other members are also given the opportunity to showcase their own clean vocals too, and to good effect. Both singing and screaming tend to be layered and harmonised throughout the tracklist, and this effect gives the music a bit more depth and provides a more provocative tone to grasp onto.

Every track has its own sense of identity and character which keeps things enjoyable and surprising, yet all the songs continue to play around the Metalcore tree. Even some like ‘Newton’s Third Law Of Knives To The Back’ and ‘Red Sky Warning’ hold onto that usual level of danger, while also being laced with Electro and Symphonic sampling tracks. These songs loosely demonstrate INK’s interest in quirky sampling and novelty sound effects which would become strong components for their more recent albums. Speaking of future work, there is also one song here that’s highly reflective of Ice Nine Kills’ more narrative prowess. ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ is probably the softest out of all others, but it holds it’s own with its theatricality and playfulness, while occasionally indulging itself in more Metallic riffs and vocals. It’s probably my favourite song on this release, and to be honest, it’s the main reason I decided to review this record in the first place. It is interesting to see a side of Ice Nine Kills that is a little less heavy and a bit more snazzy, but on either side of things, there is a lot to be enjoyed from INK’s second studio release.

I think an overall thing I’ve grasped from listening to ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’ is that INK seems to have a talent for stretching genre confinements. They’re capable of exploring different ways of conveying this area of music and they're confident enough to play around with it in their own way. I wouldn’t say that they choose to avoid the most followed path, because there are definitely things within their work that have been done before and since. But INK seems a little bit more attuned to certain types of musicianship. They seem a little more open to taking in a variety of influences and making music that has more than one purpose. Rather than just trying to be as heavy as possible, they write songs that, indeed are heavy, but are also melodic, emotional, playful, and entertaining. And from all of this, I feel like Ice Nine Kills puts a lot of effort into their work. It’s not always easy to sell yourself as any kind of artist, but this band has grown to do this rather well. And they do it in a way that’s actually garnered themselves some widespread acclaim.

This is a band that have a strong appeal for a lot of different Rock fans. But as much as that might have to do with their Horror inspired costumes and concepts, I think it also has a lot to do with their musicianship and showmanship. I think Ice Nine Kills will always stand out to me as a favourite. After listening to ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’ I do genuinely want to try out more of their music. Not only are they just a really good band in general, but they’re also a strong demonstration of what a band could be. Within a sea of Metalcore acts that just don’t really do it for me, it’s so nice to know that there’s at least one that will. So, nice work INK. Keep on trucking!

Anywho, for exceeding the expectations of its genres and being wonderfully entertaining, I’m going to give Ice Nine Kills an 8.5/10. As for ‘Safe Is Just A Shadow’ I think a 7/10 would probably be a fair mark. While it’s maybe not as successful as ‘Every Trick In The Book’ or ‘The Silver Scream’ I did actually rather enjoy it, and I’d recommend giving it a fair listen if you haven’t done so already.

 I realise throughout this review I have been a little critical of Metalcore as a genre, and I apologise for that. I try to be as even-sided and objective with music as possible, but sometimes there are some genres I just don’t get. However, if there are any bands you’d like me to check out, please let me know. I love to learn about new groups, and who knows, maybe I'll end up reviewing one you’ve recommended.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you so much for reading this review, and I hope it’s convinced you to listen to Ice Nine Kills if you haven’t already. I hope you enjoy them. As for me, I think I’m going to explore them a little bit more… So, I’ll see you next week.