I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 24, 2025] Ice Nine Kills: Silver Screamathon Day 1

I was pretty excited to see the Ice Nine Kills Silver Screamathon–two days at the same venue with each night focusing on one of their horror-themed albums.  My son and I have seen them a few times, but this felt like a way to really see their whole show and in a relatively small place.

Well, it was PACKED and we arrived a little late because we didn’t care about the opening bands.  And while my son did get into the pit, I was much further back than I anticipated.

We missed The Funeral Portrait completely.  They formed in 2014 in Georgia and have a theatrical component (and have had Spencer from INK sing on some of their tracks).  Frontman Lee Jennings compares their sound to a blend of bands such as My Chemical Romance, Ghost, and Motionless In White. I don’t hear it.  Their music is like a weird mix of alt rock and metal but in a way that doesn’t work for me.

Melrose Avenue are from Australia (!).  That alone makes me wish we’d seen them.  Although this description from New Noise Magazine doesn’t sound all that great

These four Australian lads are the up-and-coming heartthrobs of pop-metal, already amassing a dedicated fanbase in the early stages of their career. Melrose Avenue tapped into the power of Tik-Tok marketing, and their genuine nature shines through the quirky BTS videos.  The band are a meshing of Vlado Saric’s melodious vocals which intermittently bleed into raucous screams, then layered over punchy instrumentals with an emphasis on guitar riffs.

I was intrigued to hear this origin of their band name: I never realized there was a street in LA called Melrose Avenue. I literally just grew up on a street called Melrose Avenue, and that’s where I started singing, so I thought, oh, what a cool band name.

They remind me a lot of Ice Nine Kills and while I’m not bummed we missed them, they would have been the most interesting band to see.

But we did arrive in time to see The Word Alive.  We had seen them open for Starset about four years ago.  About them last time I wrote

The Word Alive was up next and  I found them to be a puzzling band.

Their name sounds like they’re a Christian band.  But I don’t think they are.

Their sound was ll over the place during this show.  Which is not a bad thing, although it felt more confused than intentional.

I found them annoying last time and it didn’t really get any better this time.  It’s not that music is bad.  It’s fine.  Indeed there are parts of their set that I liked a lot.  But there’s something about the lead singer that rubs me the wrong way. And they have some kind of L.A. metal band vibe–flashy and substance-free which I find irritating.

Having sad that, the crowd was into it and they got everyone pumped, which is no bad thing.  But I don’t need to see them again.

§ single (2025)
√ Hard Reset (2023)
⊕ Violent Noise (2021)
≠ monomania (2017)
♦ Dark Matter (2016)
® Real (2014)
∞ Life Cycles (2012)
Ø Deceiver (2010)