Ice Nine Kills - The Predator Becomes The Prey (Album Review)
The Predator Becomes the Prey is the third full length effort from Boston based post-hardcore quartet Ice Nine Kills. This is following the 2013 release of the EP titled ‘The Predator’. Two tracks from the EP carried over to the full length; ‘The Coffin is Moving’ and ‘What I Never Learned in Study Hall (feat. Tyler Carter)’. Two singles were released before the album was available for download and purchase. The first of which being ‘Connect the Cuts’ released November 4, 2013; which is just in your face, Spencer Charnas’ screams are bone rattling. In this track, like many on this album, the bass line is very prevalent. Justin Marrow slaps the bass harder than Chris Brown slapped Rhianna (too soon?). The second single ‘The Power in Belief’ was released on January 8, 2014 and had a better reception from fans than ‘Cuts’. Both songs are wonderful, and brilliant to choose as singles as it shows the diversity in the sound on ‘The Predator Becomes the Prey’. We did a review on ‘The Power in Belief’ and can be found by following the link at the end of this article. The album in its entirety is wonderful, phenomenal; I can’t say enough good things about this freaking album (but I ran out of adjectives). It has a perfect mix of heavy, hardcore, in your face screams and nice, adorable, potentially panty dropping cleans. The contrast between ‘Let’s Bury the Hatchet…In Your Head’ and ‘What I Never Learned in Study Hall’ really shows the incredible diversity that Ice Nine Kills is capable of. Diversity is a very important part of being in any industry, the music industry especially as change is a huge part of it; and for only being a four piece band that makes their work that much more amazing. Instrumentally, I can’t say enough about it, everything comes together perfectly. The engineering on this is superb and has just raised the bar on their next endeavor. These guys have come a very long way since 2006 in every aspect possible, be it lyrically, instrumentally, or line up wise and I don’t see them leaving the scene anytime soon which is fine with me, and the rest of the fans! They will be going back to the studio in April to begin production on their next full length work! And you can bet all of us at Music Mayhem are going to be keeping our eyes and ears open, we can’t wait for them to outdo themselves (but, ya know, no pressure guys). Rating: 4/5 - Wow. I’m pretty sure I need a new pair of pants after listening to this album. From the very beginning it’s just brutal and doesn’t stop. I was very pleasantly surprised at this album and have a favorite song already; ‘The Fastest Way to a Girl’s Heart is Through Her Ribcage’. Not only for the humorous title but because the bass line is just amazing, I’m a huge sucker for a nice bass line. They have come such a long way since I first heard them on MySpace when I was in middle school (feel old yet?), and I can’t wait to see them go on to bigger and better things in the future. You can purchase the album via iTunes, the band’s Facebook page (in the MERCH section) or your local Best Buy.
