Are you ready to get red-pilled with Ice Nine Kills? The horror-metal fiends have swerved into sci-fi for their just-launched, Matrix-referencing new single, “The Great Unknown,” which points to a bold, but still cinematically-sound new era for the band.
INK had teased the track earlier this week in a trailer that suggested Spencer Charnas may be an AI-powered manifestation of metal spirit.
Now, the full music video — a Silver Scream Studio Production — casts the singer as a Keanu Reeves stand-in while he hacks into servers, crosses multiple planes of reality, gets chased by Matrix-style Agents, meets a Morpheus-esque pill-pusher, and leans into the slow-mo kung fu scenes and shootouts of the Wachowski’s sci-fi classic.
As for the song, INK inject a bit of late Nineties electronicism and four-on-the-floor beatwork into “The Great Unknown,” and they add glitchy production effects to a gun-turret breakdown, but overall they still fill the single with their signature anthemic theater kid energy.
Charnas isn’t especially screamy on this one, instead crooning himself through lines about people being “disconnected from reality” until they reject their “blue pill” existences like a troop of modern-day Neos.
“‘The Great Unknown’ optimizes aggression and melody in a format our core user base consistently engages with,” Charnas notes in a statement.
“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.”
In classic Ice Nine fashion, once the song ends, we’re treated to a meta-advancement of INK lore, with actor Terry Kiser (Weekend at Bernie’s) re-assuming his Jimmy Fling role at the video shoot. Charnas is indeed missing in action, replaced on-set by a hologram version of himself. While set-hands discuss INK’s pivot from the slasher aesthetic, there’s one bloody scare to be seen before “The Great Unknown” fades to black.
You can plunge yourself through the Matrix-like rabbit hole by giving INK’s new cinematic video a peep up above.
As previously reported, INK are also launching their “Hell of a Summer Tour” in August, with the trek featuring Dayseeker, Kim Dracula and the Funeral Portrait. Charnas and CO. kick that off August 10th at Waukee, Iowa’s Vibrant Music Hall.
You’ll find the rest of the date details over here.