We’ve know for a while that horror-based metalcore/theatricore act Ice Nine Kills was collaborating with the upcoming release of Scream 7, but now that collab has come to fruition with the release of their new track “Twisting The Knife”.
Announced back in December, this joint effort sees one of the more popular acts out there adding their music to the soundtrack of one of the most iconic horror movie series. However this time around, the song includes a featured spot with Mckenna Grace, a member of the movie’s cast.
Speaking of the track itself, Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas had this to say:
“’Twisting the Knife’ is our tribute to Wes Craven and the Scream franchise, which means so much to us. Scream is baked into the DNA of who I am and of Ice Nine Kills—my love of horror, comedy, and the collision between the two. I was already obsessed with Halloween and Friday the 13th, but Scream was the first I saw in theaters. Hearing the killer talk about horror movies, in that distinctively pop-culture savvy Kevin Williamson way, blew my mind.
“In recent years, we’ve gotten to know and work with Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy, Lee Waddell, and others in different capacities. We announced the collaboration with Scream 7 at Wembley Arena, with Ghostface and Rose McGowan, which was surreal in itself.
“When we learned that Mckenna Grace is a fan of our band, it made perfect sense to invite her to sing. She recorded her part in my home studio, in the same room where I keep my screen-used Scream knife prop, one of the four rubber knives made for the first movie.
“Marco Beltrami’s Scream scores are just as influential to me as any other component of the films. In our song, there are echoes of the moody atmospheres he’s created, with our own INK twist.”
As for Grace, she said her involvement in the making of the song was “such a special experience” for her.
“I am such a big INK fan and it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to play with a different style of music. I am so inspired by Amy Lee’s vocals and we all wanted to channel Scream and Sydney’s story as best as we could. Spencer and the guys were so much fun to collaborate with and I’m so thankful to Kevin Williamson.”
You can check out the track and its accompanying music video below. Scream 7 will begin showing in theaters near you on Friday, February 27.
Horrenda is a 6-person fomorian looking to expand beyond its borders; after blazing a path across Ireland and the UK, and recently debuting in mainland Europe with a tour of Poland.
In 2025, Horrenda closed out Ireland’s largest metal festival “The Siege of Limerick”, playing the UK end to end, debuting in Poland and playing Cosmic Void Festival in September 2025 which closed out our busiest year.
Horrenda twists elements of black metal into a chaotic mix of hardcore punk, dissonance Noise and riffing Death metal with a progressive music edge. This mix has formed a live show that cuts deep and often utilizes samples and 3-guitars to allow a wall of sound to pummel our audience, ensuring a show unlike anything you’ve seen before.
“Horrenda started in 2015 as a one man black project project, releasing two demos but then grew into an act of renown in Ireland. After refining our show and sound over the past ten years across Ireland and the UK. We are very pleased to sign with EMG at this point as we are keen to bring our music to as many shores as possible. We want everyone to experience Horrenda.”
HORRENDA are a must for fans of acts such as Dragged Into Sunlight, Harakiri For The Sky, Ellende, Karg, Gluch, Hexis, and high intensity live performances.
Horrenda are currently writing their second album; the follow up to the “Think On Your Sins” EP and their debut album “Díoltas” both of which were re-released in the US in 2025.
Check out the video for “Come and see” – Horrenda – Come and See (Official Video)
Our proshot set from Cosmic Void can be viewed here also -Horrenda | COSMIC VOID Festival 2025 | O2 Academy Islington, London (UK)
LINKS:
Website: https://horrendaofficial.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HorrendaOfficial
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXL3b6wMly77vNKKpUpCoLw
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/horrendaofficial/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/396IN8R4fgqAlSJB9UHiOU
FOO FIGHTERSYOUR FAVORITE TOYNEW ALBUM OUT APRIL 24FIRST SINGLE / TITLE TRACK OUT NOW Listen to âYour Favorite Toyâ HERE and Pre-Order the Album HERE Try not to choke on the glitter⦠âYour Favorite Toy,â the titular first […]
HELP(2), War Child UK’s new star-studded benefit compilation, arrives in just a few weeks, but we’ve heard a few samples of it already: the Last Dinner Party’s “Let’s Do It Again!,” Arctic Monkeys’ big return “Opening Night,” the Damon Albarn/Grian Chatten/Kae Tempest collab “Flags,” and a snippet Cameron Winter’s “Warning.” Now, Pulp have shared their new…
German death metal force ORACLE OF WORMS have officially joined the ranks of FDA Records, marking the next chapter in the band’s relentless campaign of HM-2-driven devastation. Forged in 2021 in the shadows of Gießen, Germany, ORACLE OF WORMS emerged from the underground with one mission: to channel the filth, fury and morbid spirit of […]
Surprise, surprise, surprise. After a pause of 4 years, made a bit longer due to a little band known as Dream Theater, NMB prove themselves to be unstoppable as they pick up right where they left off. Written and recorded in complete secrecy, on a very tight timeline of 9 days to get the framework in place so that Mike Portnoy could lay down his drum tracks, the band did the unthinkable. Namely, they created the bulk of the album on the spot. It’s hard to think of many bands that could pull off such a feat, especially with arrangements and instrumentation as complex as NMB displays here.
After two celebrated concept double albums and two other albums filled with mixtures of side-long epics and shorter, more direct songs, what direction would NMB decide to go this time? Wisely, a double album was off the table, but the band still got in a good 70 minutes of music, meaning this is an extended listening experience. A concept idea inevitably crept in again, too, which we’ll explore below.
Reviewing a Neal Morse Band album is fairly easy at this point because, as with many contemporary prog rock bands, the audience knows what they’re getting. Portnoy has rebuffed any criticism of a pervasive Neal Morse songwriting “formula” by countering, “Hey, we have our sound. That’s what a band does, is create their own sound.” (paraphrased) While that’s a worthy subject for a good prog debate (e.g. Yes and King Crimson certainly changed their sound every album or two), there’s no denying that the vast majority of prog bands these days do indeed find their specific style, and they hone in on it.
Thus, the audience who enjoys what Morse does, whether with NMB or otherwise, has a good idea of what to expect, and it’s merely a question of “what degree of awesomeness does this album deliver?” Other listeners who don’t dig Morse’s approach, whether for lyrical or stylistic reasons, probably aren’t going to be won over by this album any more than the past several. But for the faithful, the news is good. Very good.
Given all of that preamble, we can cut to the chase and share that L.I.F.T. continues meeting the high bar that has already been set by the band, and threatens to raise it even higher. There’s little new ground broken here. To the contrary, it’s almost a “greatest hits of NMB” vibe, from outrageously layered vocal sections to blistering guitar and keyboard solos, anthems, head-banging moments, acoustic interludes, and powerful, tear-jerking revelations. The track listing of 13 songs suggests that there’s no epic included here, but paradoxically, the whole album can be seen as one extended piece. Or, at least two album-side pieces, encompassing tracks 1 – 8 and 9 – 13.
Musically speaking, the band is on fire. As the album opens up with the largely instrumental “Beginning” – a not-very-crafty way of saying “Overture” yet again – their chops are on full display as if they had just stepped off the stage from their last tour 4 years ago. It’s absolutely delightful having Portnoy back behind the kit, well worth the wait.
After they tear through several melodic themes that will be visited throughout the album, we get into the first single, “Fully Alive,” which makes the most of the interplay between Morse, BillHubauer, and Eric Gillette trading lead vocals. Having Gillette sing the chorus at such an unexpectedly slow tempo over bass pedals thumping is a striking approach and surprisingly effective. The Similitude vibe is very present with shorter introspective pieces like “I Still Belong” and later, “Contemplation”, which features a beautiful “The Doorway”-esque grand piano and Hubauer’s Geoshred playing.
Subsequent singles contain powerful NMB moments as well: the hard-hitting “Hurt People” features Gillette’s killer vocals and incendiary lead guitar playing with a blistering neo-classical shred-fest and Portnoy raging behind the drum kit before going into an extended instrumental jam (not included in the video single) that’s one of the album’s best. Then “Reaching” hits all those “The Call” vibes, one of NMB’s brightest high-water marks, including their bounty of incredible vocal harmonies. Interestingly, Portnoy is not credited with any singing on the album, likely due to his busy schedule. Thus, the other three work overtime in the overdub studio, and the results are nothing short of spectacular.
Lest you worry that the best has already been released in the format of singles, there are plenty of gems still to be discovered. “The Great Withdrawal” hits home as one of the great Morse angst-ridden pieces – as Gillette’s searing solo is accompanied by Amy Pippin and Julie Harrison’s backing vocals – before going into one of those classic Hubauer bridges. Perfection. At the other extreme, pieces like “Carry You Again” uplift the spirit with Morse’s addiction to sus chords resolving, which never seems to fail. For those of you who have heard his U2 moments at Morsefest, such as “Where The Streets Have No Name”, you’ll get a little taste of that here, too.
It all comes together with the closing number, a Morse staple, and somehow, he always seems to pull out a miracle to seal the deal. This time it’s “Love All Along”, starting off with a vulnerable vocal rarely heard outside of his worship albums (think “Cloudburst”). As the song evolves, it develops into one ofMorse’s most powerful progressions yet, and although it includes more false endings than “The Return Of The King”, each one outdoes the one before it, truly a finale bursting with emotion and revelation.
The backing vocals from Pippin and Harrison shine, and inevitably Gillette sweeps in toward the end to take over the lead vocal and bring it home. Simply sublime. Poignantly, like on his last Joseph album, Morse turns the lyrics towards the listener: “And if you’ve been down this road, And still bear a heavy load, Tell shame it’s time to go!”, and then closing with, “‘Cause you still belong.” It’s a powerful touch.
Lyrically, we’re treading similar ground as before: wholeness (union with God) splinters off into separation (egoic man) and eventually is reunited into oneness for the finale. Once again, we have a male central character and a male savior. The Christian identity is very much present, with references being to Father rather than Jesus, but not as overt as Morse’s other recent albums, and he also mixes in some elemental imagery like wind and skies, along with plenty of love. But there’s clearly a more psychological element present here as well, with some of the song’s lyrical inspirations coming from therapy phrases.
At times, these lines go over the edge a bit, feeling too much like we’re in the therapist’s chair, particularly in “Shame About My Shame” as we traverse the pains of separation. Morse appears to be aiming for a cathartic experience of the human condition, and undoubtedly, many listeners will be able to relate to the lyrics and travel this road with him.
Wrapped up in a beautifully mixed production from Rich Mouser and engineered by Jerry Guidroz, NMB albums always sparkle from front to back, and this is no exception. Although L.I.F.T. doesn’t break new ground, NMB are back to do it all again – doing what they do best. And frankly, they hit it out of the park once again.
Release Date: Record Label: Inside Out Music Genre: Progressive Rock
