Photos | Review: Ice Nine Kill's Hip To Be Scared Tour Terrorizes Destin

Ice Nine Kills performs in Destin on Hip To Be Scared Tour — Ice Nine Kills - Destin

Masses converged on the resort town of Destin, FL on Saturday, Nov 13 on a pilgrimage to the macabre world of Horrorwood created by the band of psychopaths known as Ice Nine Kills. Who would survive to tell their tales from the night and who would leave as corpses in body bags? My assignment was to investigate this band of murderers and to discover the secrets behind Horrorwood.

***Spencer Charnas performing with Ice Nine Kills in Destin***

Intel: Ice Nine Kills and their leader Spencer Charnas have an affinity towards slasher movie classics. They draw inspiration from and intertwine them in their songs. Themes for their music videos are based on movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Childs Play, Pet Cemetery, Friday the 13^th, The Crow and others. What is Horrorwood? Need to infiltrate the band’s cult of followers to examine the band closeup.

Investigation: The band is on a road trip across the US to bring their Hip to Be Scared Tour filled with music and visions from their last two albums, The Silver Scream and Welcome To Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2 to their loyal fanbase. The show at Club L.A. in Destin, Fl was sold out days in advance. Concert goers traveled as far as four hours to see the band perform live. Before the show even began there were chants of “Ice Nine Kills” whenever there was a momentary break in the pre-show music as the crowd waited in anticipation for their heroes.

***Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills singing Savages***

What the audience was about to see was a show combining Ice Nine Kills slashcore music with a theatrical performance. The show opened with the playing of “Opening Night” with the words to the song scrolling on twin video panels on each side of the stage. Members of the band hit the stage wearing masks, dressed in suits and ties. Charnas began singing the melodic intro to “Welcome to Horrorwood”, reminding me of Michael Crawford in the Phantom of the Opera, before launching into back and forth screaming and clean vocals. The next song, “Savages” had Charnas brandishing a chain saw in the air paying homage to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The imagery for each song was based off the band’s videos and the movies that inspired them. Charnas wielded all sorts of lethal props with murderous intent gleaming in his eyes. In “Hip to Be Scared”, he portrayed the killing of a woman with an axe, based on American Psycho, and dangled her head by the hair as he roamed the stage. “Stabbing in the Dark” saw him use a knife to slit the throat of a screaming woman who had wandered on stage. The whole band wore animal masks during “Funeral Derangements” with Charnas carrying a shovel like he was preparing to bury an animal in a Pet Cemetery.

***Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills singing Welcome to Horrorwood***

Other weapons on display throughout the night included a machete, hook, and blade glove reminiscent of the Friday the 13^th, Candyman, and Nightmare on Elm Street movies. At one point a demon possessed woman ran onto the stage during “Communion of the Cursed” but was warded off with a crucifix. The encore song was “It is the End”. A character clad in a yellow raincoat carrying a balloon appeared on the stage at which point the audience starting shouting “Georgie”. Charnas entered dressed as a clown portraying the villain from the movie IT.

Conclusion: The night was filled with loud music, melodic and viscous vocals, plenty of blood spilling, and satisfied raucous fans. Spencer Charnas and the rest of the band put on an epic, menacing performance slashing and hacking their way through a 16-song set. Security was tight for the show but not tight enough because the band was able to sneak their chainsaws, axes, and machetes on stage which Charnas used to commit the crimes of the night. It was a good evening for all, except for the ones who came to a grisly end by the band known as Ice Nine Kills.

Recommendation: If you are a fan of horror movies and Ice Nine Kills, then the Hip To Be Scared Tour is one you don’t want to miss. I managed to survive the night and you might too if you are lucky. Remaining tour dates are listed below and tickets can be purchased here.

More photos from the show can be viewed below.