Let me tell you, if there was ever a band that could say that they have their hands in every rock music subgenre right now, my thoughts would immediately go to Ice Nine Kills. Coming off of one tour and straight onto another while simultaneously releasing singles with other major names in the industry such as Hollywood Undead, Fame on Fire, Escape the Fate, and more. They have also released a new novel, The Silver Scream, based on their ever-growing saga of albums. The INK boys have certainly kept themselves busy this year and don’t intend to stop anytime soon. However, for now, let’s talk about their current endeavor, The Fear the Premiere Tour, INK’s own headlining tour, currently backed by August Burns Red and Veil  (Aug 8th–11th), later being joined by Set It Off and The Plot In You (Aug 15th–Sept 1st), along with the opener Mikes Dead, who will be at all the remaining dates. So, settle in and grab your popcorn as we go over the gory and horrifically terrific details that make up The Fear The Premiere Tour.

After warming the crowd up with a few songs from metal rap artist Mike’s Dead, Veil of Maya took the stage. The Chicago-based metal band kept the crowd on their feet despite their short set, but they were so strong that they certainly made their presence known. Playing a few of their more popular songs, like “Mikasa”,  “Red Fur” ,and “Tokyo Chainsaw” just to name a few. The band took their cues from frontman Lukas Magyar; the band certainly set the bar high for their predecessors to follow, who are currently celebrating a major milestone, August Burns Red.

August Burns Red is a band that has been well known in the heavy metal music scene for 20 years. Yes, this band formed all the way back in 2003 and has been rising to the occasion ever since. With their most recent album release, Death Below, back in March of this year, to recently announcing a headlining tour of their own starting in November to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their 2013 album Rescue and Restore. August Burns Red certainly knows how to celebrate some majorly impressive milestones, however, that doesn’t mean they can’t make time out of their schedules to play alongside INK for a few dates.

The band definitely had a jam-packed playlist, including some fan favorites like “White Washed” and “Mariania’s Trench” both off of the popular album Constellations, which dropped in 2009. Also included in the set were, of course, two newer songs off the latest album, “Backfire” and “Revival”. Another point I would like to make personally would be ABR’s lighting for their set, which is always a colorful but vibrantly perfect balance and very pleasing to the eye. Certainly an amazing band to have leading up to our killer finale.

If you have never had the opportunity to witness an Ice Nine Kills show live, let me be the first to say that you are missing out not only musically but also visually and theatrically. That’s right, I said theatrically, because when you go to an INK show, you should expect a different killer scene to be painted with every song. With the help of a handful of stagehands and actors, leading frontman Spencer Charnas, along with the rest of the members of the band. They go above and beyond with things like costume changes and special effects, and let’s not forget to mention the plethora of different masks that Charnas changes into throughout the night. With this specific tour, the band has featured a different setlist than the one they had grown to know and love by bringing back some songs that hadn’t been played for quite a while and deserved to be brought back into the spotlight, like “Rocking The Boat” and Me, Myself and Hyde” to name a few, along with keeping some of the fan favorites such as “It Is The End”, “Rainy Day”, and “Wurst Vacation” just to name a few. 

There is, however, one song that made its directorial debut for the first time ever at an Ice Nine Kills production, “Jason’s Mom” the band’s portrayal of “Stacy’s Mom” originally written and performed by Fountains of Wayne. However, Ice Nine Kill does it from the perspective of Jason Vorhees mom from the major film franchise, Friday the 13th. Needless to say, the show was nothing short of exciting, and most certainly kept the audience on the edge of their seats all night long. If you have to miss the Fear The Premiere Tour, fear not because you will have the chance to catch them out on a stadium tour with Metallica or their co-headlining tour with In This Moment at the end of the year. Either way, I strongly encourage you to catch INK on tour; it’s sure to be a scream!

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Shelby Tyce

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