Over 50 years in, metalheads are pretty hard to shock. And we'll admit, between GWAR's bloody on-stage executions, Alice Cooper's nightly beheadings, Rammstein's penis canon and countless other mental on-stage props, we thought we'd seen it all. But then Ice Nine Kills bring out horror icon Art The Clown, who proceeds to torch a baby doll and swing the charred corpse overhead by its umbilical cord. Now, we've seen everything.
This is Ice Nine Kills fourth time in the UK since the release of 2021's The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood, their first as an arena band and they pass the test with flying colours (provided those colours are all shades of red). The horror-obsessed metalcore crew have long had the theatricality and mad production that has made modern metal so vibrant, but even if you've caught them on the last few tours, the A Work Of Art run feels like a serious step up.
Supports TX2, The Devil Wears Prada and Creeper ramp up the excitement, but nothing quite prepares for how hard INK go. Opening on the Silence Of The Lambs-inspired Meat & Greet, there's not a single song in this set that doesn't come with some insane production flourish. For the opener, that's on-stage extras dressed as cops flanking a Hannibal Lecter figure, who naturally breaks out and gets down to some serious face chewing.
Massive screens either side of the stage mean we enjoy the carnage in more detail than ever before, and INK officially cross over into full cinematic territory as they were always destined to. There are well-worn fan favourites aplenty in the set; Funeral Derangements, Hip To Be Scared, The Shower Scene, all thunderingly heavy, but with a canny ear for big choruses and referential hooks that are roared out by the gleeful masses ("Dead is better!", "Hey Paul!").
Therein lies the beauty of what INK do: yes, there's an inherent gimmick, but these songs are also undeniably brilliant, the choruses ticking that old school urge for radio sing-alongs while the breakdowns and riffs are irresistible. But INK are also taking swings outside of their horror oeuvre. With Reel Big Fish's horn section backing them up, they pull out a delightfully thumpy cover of Walking On Sunshine (complete with an axe-wielding sun, this is still INK after all) and later go full ska punk with a rendition of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' The Impression That I Get.
New tunes The Great Unknown and The Laugh Track hint towards a future where INK will step away from pure horror territories again, but don't feel lessened for the change. The Matrix-inspired Great Unknown comes with a kung-fu battle straight from the movie, while the sight of Spencer Charnas dolled up as the Joker on Laugh Track - not to mention the brilliant adaptation of Danny Elfman's Batman theme into a riff - shows they're not dialling back the theatrical. While we wouldn't say no to some bloody sprays in the crowd - INK do the club scene from Blade, anyone? - there's no denying this show is an absolute marvel.
By the time the show hits its big crescendo - finale A Work Of Art - INK have firmly proven themselves as one of modern metal's most colourful and boundary-pushing live bands with a face-chewing, flame-throwing, arm-cleaving spectacle that makes GWAR look like Sesame Street.
Ice Nine Kills Setlist @ Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham 10/12/2025
- Meat & Greet
- Funeral Derangements
- Hip To Be Scared
- Stabbing In The Dark
- Wurst Vacation
- Walking On Sunshine
- Rainy Day
- The Great Unknown
- Ex-Mortis
- Farewell II Flesh
- The Impression That I Get
- A Grave Mistake
- The Laugh Track
- The Shower Scene
- Welcome To Horrorwood
- IT Is The End
- The American Nightmare
- A Work Of Art
