Credit F Scott Schafer
RIAA Gold-Certified horror metal madmen Ice Nine Kills unleash “The Great Unknown”, a hard-hitting, high-concept single and video sees the band stepping into the glitching heart of dystopian sci-fi inspired by The Matrix. Watch the official music video for “The Great Unknown” below.
“The Great Unknown” pairs cinematic worship with melodic grandeur, pushing Ice Nine Kills’ signature sound into uncharted territory while retaining the polish, precision, and razor-wire wit that have defined the INKverse to date. The official music video drops the viewer into a parallel simulation—an adrenaline-fueled, bullet-time mindwarp where perception is fragile, control is an illusion, and nothing is quite what it seems.
Will you wake up, press play and follow the white rabbit into The Great Unknown or choose the blissful ignorance of The Matrix? Red pill or blue pill. The choice is yours!
The release of “The Great Unknown” follows weeks of escalating online speculation surrounding frontman Spencer Charnas’ increasingly cryptic and eerily odd behavior. What began as an unforced marketing misfire quickly snowballed into full-blown internet hysteria, as fans, critics, and commentators dissected increasingly uncanny social posts. Rumors have been swirling that Spencer has been replaced by a highly advanced, if often glitching, artificial intelligence, a notion that first gained traction when longtime Ice Nine Kills antagonist, author and onetime O.J. Simpson golf caddy, Roy Merkin launched into a now-infamous outburst during a panel at last year’s Silver Scream Convention. While the band has neither confirmed nor denied the rumors, the mystery surrounding the recent events continues. A statement from Charnas reads
“‘The Great Unknown’ optimizes aggression and melody in a format our core user base consistently engages with. This audio file represents a genre expansion protocol, targeting action and sci-fi verticals proven effective via cross-platform sentiment analysis. ‘The Great Unknown’ is designed to seamlessly interface with current simulation conditions, as categorical boundaries between fact and fiction, organic and synthetic, continue to experience accelerated erosion.”
WATCH: Official Music video for "The Great Unknown"
“The Great Unknown” welcomes Joel David Moore (Grandma’s Boy, Dodgeball, Avatar) into the INKverse. How much do clothes cost in the simulation? Joel is the only robot legged machine-man who knows for sure. The official music video also features return appearances from Terry Kiser (Weekend at Bernie’s, Friday The 13th Part VII) and Bill Moseley (Devil’s Rejects, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2).
The single lands as Ice Nine Kills wrap up a mammoth 2 years of touring stadiums across the globe with Metallica on their M72 World Tour. The band also just wrapped up their hugely successful ‘Silver Scream-A-Thon’ headline tour across the US, playing seminal albums The Silver Scream and The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood in their entirety on respective nights in select cities. This August, they will launch their Hell of A Summer headline tour, joined by Dayseeker, Kim Dracula, The Funeral Portrait, and Mest (on select dates), culminating in the 4th annual iteration of their enormously successful music and horror convention, Silver Scream Con. Tickets and further info about all live shows available HERE.
ICE NINE KILLS: HELL OF A SUMMER TOUR – FULL ROUTING
All dates subject to change. Visit IceNineKills.com for the latest information.
Sunday, August 10 – Waukee, IA – Vibrant Music Hall
Tuesday, August 12 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
Thursday, August 14 – Tempe, AZ – Mullett Arena
Saturday, August 16 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort
Sunday, August 17 – Garden City, ID – Revolution Concert House and Event Center
Monday, August 18 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
Wednesday, August 20 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
Thursday, August 21 – Grand Junction, CO – Amphitheater at Las Colonias Park
Friday, August 22 – Albuquerque, NM – Revel Entertainment Center
Sunday, August 24 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Wednesday, August 27 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
Thursday, August 28 – Youngstown, OH – The Covelli Centre
Friday, August 29 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Sunday, August 31 – Salem, VA – Salem Civic Center
Tuesday, September 2 – National Harbor, MD – The Theater at MGM National Harbor
Wednesday, September 3 – Virginia Beach, VA – The Dome
Friday, September 5 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
Saturday, September 6 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – War Memorial Auditorium
Saturday, September 13 – Worcester, MA – DCU Center (Silver Scream Con)*
Black = Ice Nine Kills with Dayseeker, Kim Dracula, The Funeral Portrait
Purple = Ice Nine Kills with Dayseeker, Kim Dracula, The Funeral Portrait, Mest
Red = Ice Nine Kills Show Silver Scream Con (Worcester, MA): Ice Nine Kills, Dayseeker, The Funeral Portrait, Mest, A Loss for Words. Not a Live Nation show.
ABOUT ICE NINE KILLS
Ice Nine Kills spreads cavalier carnage with a knowing smile, as evidenced by the densely catchy songs on their two breakthrough albums, The Silver Scream and The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, including the gold-certified single “A Grave Mistake,” “A Work of Art” (from Terrifier 3), and the adrenaline-fueled epic “The Great Unknown.”
The INKverse boasts high-concept videos, the Psychos Only club, mock “true crime” books, the Inked in Blood graphic novels, monthly Nightmare on the 9th merch drops, and the annual Silver Scream Convention. Led by Spencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills blend extreme metal and melody with a flair for narrative immersion. They’ve toured with Slipknot, won Rock Sound’s Best Live Act, and were handpicked by Metallica for the M72 World Tour.
In 2025, Spencer also launched the Pretty Evil personal care line and co-wrote the upcoming feature film The Slashin’ of the Christ alongside Paul Soter (Super Troopers), produced by Greg Nicotero and Brian Witten.
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