Why so serious? Ice Nine Kills’ new Joker-fied “The Laugh Track” single is out now, and the campy horror-metal song is custom-made to turn that frown upside down.
As previously reported, INK teased the track earlier in the week, with a trailer promising a purple-and-green-tinted homage to the Clown Prince of Crime — its music video somewhat based on the downtown parade scene from Tim Burton’s Batman.
Now, INK vocalist Spencer Charnas has revealed the song in full. The video indeed finds him crossing the garishly-costumed vibe of Jack Nicholson’s Eighties-era Joker with the Chelsea-smiling ghoulishness of Heath Ledger’s Dark Knight look. The riotous, Molotov cocktail-flingin’ crowd scenes, meanwhile, conjure director Todd Phillips’ seedy Joker aesthetic.
The song itself mixes INK’s famously theatrical tendencies with Eighties metal guitarmonies, big brass accents, grotesque breakdowns, a mock-speech section where Charnas’ tries to turn Gotham-ites against the Bat, and various hard-growled Joker quotes.
“Why be a brooding bat when you can have the last laugh? After all, Jack Nicholson got top billing in Batman ’89,” Charnas added in a statement. “While Michael Keaton’s haunted Bruce Wayne is outstanding, young Spencer was drawn more to the Clown Prince of Crime.
“’The Laugh Track’ is our homage to Tim Burton’s dark and gorgeous gothic Gotham. Batman ’89 took its comic book material seriously, but it was far from grounded, and never forgot to have fun. It’s the same tightrope we walk in Ice Nine Kills, with broad, maniacal smiles.”
If you’re ready to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight, you can give the vid a look up above. Down below, meanwhile, you’ll find extra scenes of Scream actor Matthew Lillard weighing in on Charnas, “the new face of horror,” as part of INK’s long-running, body count-racking storyline.
“The Laugh Track” follows INK’s recent Matrix-themed “The Great Unknown”, and is streaming now via Fearless Records.