Ice Nine Kills claim their first-ever No. 1 at Active Rock Radio with “Twisting The Knife” featuring McKenna Grace
Ice Nine Kills have officially claimed their first-ever No. 1 at Active Rock Radio with “Twisting The Knife (Feat. Mckenna Grace)”, the official song from the franchise-record-breaking horror film “Scream 7”, from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group. The milestone marks the band’s first-ever chart-topper on the format.
“Twisting The Knife” had already surpassed 10 million cross-platform streams in its first week, topped Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart — beating out one of rock’s biggest bands, Foo Fighters, to the top spot — and hit No. 1 on U.S. YouTube’s Current Rock, Hard Rock and Metal Music Videos charts. It now becomes the first song written for the iconic franchise to reach No. 1 at radio. To date, the track has racked up 32.2 million cross-platform streams.
Frontman Spencer Charnas called the song a tribute to director Wes Craven and the “Scream” franchise, noting it was the first film in the series he saw in theaters. He explained that the idea to bring in McKenna Grace came after learning she was a fan of the band; she recorded her vocals in Charnas’s home studio, in the same room where he keeps a screen-used knife prop from the original film. Grace, for her part, said she drew inspiration from Amy Lee’s vocals and wanted to channel Sydney’s story.
The accompanying music video continues Ice Nine Kills' signature horror-cinema homage, with Roger L. Jackson reprising his role as the voice of Ghostface, and appearances from David Arquette and Johnny Brennan (creator of “The Jerky Boys”) as Francis Rizzowitz. The video’s storyline picks up directly from last year’s “The Laugh Track, ” which featured Matthew Lillard.
The milestone arrives during an especially busy stretch for the band: “Play Dead, ” their collaboration with the video game “Dead By Daylight, ” drops June 26, joining recent partnerships tied to “Terrifier 3,” “Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come, ” and Charnas’s appearance as a playable character in the “Halloween” video game. With more than 2 billion global streams, over 500 million YouTube views, sold-out tours across multiple continents, and a two-and-a-half-year run supporting Metallica in stadiums worldwide, Ice Nine Kills continue to cement their place at the intersection of music, horror and gaming.
