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ICE NINE KILLS officially enter the canon of one of the most iconic horror franchises with “Twisting The Knife”, featured in the forthcoming film “Scream 7”. Cast member Mckenna Grace joins the band on the new single, a rare, high-impact crossover between one of modern metal’s most ambitious bands and one of horror cinema’s most enduring properties. Watch the official music video below. Catch “Scream 7” in theatres on Friday, February 27.
ICE NINE KILLS mastermind Spencer Charnas shares: “‘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 theatres. 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.”
Mckenna Grace adds: “Making this song was such a special experience for me. 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.”
The accompanying music video continues ICE NINE KILLS‘ signature horror-cinema homage, blending performance with a post-video narrative short that continues the ever-expanding INKverse lore. The voice of Ghostface himself, Roger L. Jackson, reprises his iconic role. The story picks up directly from 2025’s “The Laugh Track”, which saw Matthew Lillard playing himself. This instalment escalates the meta-horror further, with David Arquette (as himself),alongside Johnny Brennan, creator of “The Jerky Boys”, as Francis Rizzowitz.
“Twisting The Knife” was first teased during ICE NINE KILLS‘ massive headlining show at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, where the band staged the onstage “death” of “Scream” star Rose McGowan, followed by an onstage video call from Ghostface. The moment marked a theatrical high point in a career-defining run, following 2.5 years supporting METALLICA on their global stadium tour and multiple sold-out headline tours worldwide.
Accompanying today’s release is a “Nightmare On The Knife” limited-edition merch drop. A riff on ICE NINE KILLS‘ monthly “Nightmare On The Ninth” drops, specifically tailored to today’s announcement. The exclusive items are available for a limited time.
Twenty years on from the release of their debut album, ICE NINE KILLS are one of the most intentional and commercially successful bands in modern heavy music, driven by immersive cinematic world-building and a deep fusion of melody and bombast. Their two breakthrough albums, “The Silver Scream” and “The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood”, generated over 1.5 billion streams alone and positioned the band as a rare crossover force.
INK‘s recent string of standalone singles further cemented their position at the cutting edge of the intersection between horror and metal. “A Work Of Art”, selected as the official song for “Terrifier 3”, soundtracked the film’s rise into box office history as the highest-grossing unrated movie of all time, while “The Great Unknown” sharpened the band’s cinematic instincts into a “Matrix”-inspired fever dream. Then came “The Laugh Track”, a homicidally catchy tribute to Jack Nicholson‘s Joker that became the band’s most successful single to date, pushing them deeper into mainstream and pop culture conversation.
Photo credit: F Scott Schafer
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