Review Summary: "Even Van Gogh would call it a bloody good impression."
Let's not mince words; it's no small feat to effectively and adequately adapt classic works of literature off the pages of antiquity and revamp them for the modern age. The mystique of what came before is often too immense to objectively draw comparisons. Imagine seeing a new film adaptation of a novel you read in school years ago. It's tempting, almost to a fault by my estimation, to dismiss it as not living up to its previous written and acted out forms. Thankfully, film isn't the only avenue through which to retell the greatest novels of all time. Music is a readily capable thoroughfare to pursue this and the hazy obscurity of some of time's greatest stories meets it maker with Massachusetts metalcore outfit Ice Nine Kills and their riveting, haunting masterpiece,
Every Trick in the Book.
Ice Nine Kills formed in Boston in the mid-2000s, originally as a pop punk/post-hardcore hybrid before molding their sonic identity into fast-paced, ebullient metalcore with a flair for the theatric. Their hard work has certainly paid off; they were headliners as part of a stacked 2016 Vans Warped Tour lineup, with another headlining stint surely due this coming summer, and they currently sit admist Fearless Records' active main roster after years of clawing their way through the underground channels of both the record label and the genre itself. With this, their fourth studio album, the group lifts the best literature ever composed and fashions them thirty-seven minutes and thirty-seven seconds of some of the most riveting, spirited and
God damn enjoyable metalcore of this generation.
George Orwell's
Animal Farm is the source of inspiration for the album's opening cut, "The Nature of the Beast." Almost like a ringleader crooing circus-goers into the unforseeable torment ahead, lead vocalist Spencer Charnas guides the listener through the moridly inviting passages that lift the curtains on
Every Trick in the Book. As both he and co-frontman Justin DeBlieck trade evocative proclamations ("We are the frayed/We are the torn/We are the beaten and the scorn/And now you've forced the beast to bare its teeth"), the listener is immediately ensured the ride ahead is anything but graceful. With blistering instrumentals behind them, Charnas and DeBlieck do a superb job chronicling the winds and turns of this track; the animals' determination to seize control is slowly supplanted by the remorse of becoming what they set out to destroy. It's a truly compelling and captivating start to the album.
"Communion of the Cursed", based off
The Exorcist is the perfect representative amalgamation of the entire album. It's frighteningly arousing to watch the band go somewhere deep to make known how far in the details the devil is through the veins of this track. Charnas' uncleans segue into a strongly sung chorus, which sets the stage, quite literally, for a punishing breakdown, perfectly punctuating the overall tone of this record, with the repeated assertion "I cannot be crucified" further accentuating the emotionally distraught through-line of
Every Trick in the Book.
Bram Stoker's classic
Dracula is the source material for "Bloodbath and Beyond" and the band puts a truly unique spin on it; rather than simply retracing the events of the novel, Spencer Charnas and company paint a picture of a girl being courted by a young, brooding vampire to fall prey to his "crimson kiss." Conor Sullivan's superb drumming guides the track through both its ravishing choruses and a well performed breakdown near song's end. "The Plot Sickens" retells Piers Paul Read's
Alive by letting Spencer exchange punishing low uncleans with stirringly elegiac highs at rapid-fire pace, the line "We'll make it out alive" the proverbial groundwork for the optimistic undertones of the track's otherwise wistful lyrics.
"Star-Crossed Enemies", based from
Romeo and Juliet brings to life the true horror of the circumstances of the situation the two lovers once faced. Charnas tells the listener that "we should make like shadows and disappear", conjuring a truly despondent sentiment that, dare I say, the original writing doesn't do enough to shed light upon. "Me, Myself & Hyde" is one of the most indelibly entertaining interpretations on the whole album. Much like its immediate predecessor, the track focuses more on the internal struggle externalized in haunting fashion by the protagonist, rather than simply rehashing every event within the original work. Beatrice Sparks'
Go Ask Alice inspires some of Spencer Charnas' best sung vocal performances to date with "Alice", "So it goes in the throes of what I can't overcome. Painfully numb" opening the door to the hell truly experienced not just by the anonymous diarist, but every persona represented on this entire album.
It's quite coincidental that a song about an unnamed diarist would come just before one of the most frightening adaptations of
The Diary of Anne Frank ever composed. "The People in the Attic" borders on melodic death metal territory as DeBlieck and Justin Morrow drive the track with strong, grooving guitar work, while Spencer provides a voice for Anne Frank that seems almost hopeful in the face of her inevitable demise, implied by the line "The path that God has lit grows ever darker though my faith goes further now."
"Tess-Timony" is driven solely by piano through the second chorus, Spencer Charnas at his most vulnerable before the guitars come soaring in to aide the haunting passages ("And for this, I was willing to die/It was all I could do to survive") of this track. "Hell in the Hallways", based off of Stephen King's
Carrie closes the album in gory fashion. All the energy the band has left to expend is utilized, you can almost hear the guitar strings hissing in the background as the group retells the story of "the girl that was lost, the girl no one saved, with blood on her face." With this,
Every Trick in the Book meets its curtain call.
This album is nothing short of incredible. Ice Nine Kills accomplishes something truly remarkable. By digging through the sands of time to retell the most compelling written works of art ever composed, they create for themselves the perfect adverse effect; they've laid the groundwork for their future as a band. And while fans can only patiently pine for new work for the group, almost certainly due out sometime in 2018, they can be reassured that the bright future ahead for Ice Nine Kills was provided by the glorious inroad established by
Every Trick in the Book. Cover to cover, this album is a sheer masterpiece.
