Slay bells are officially ringing! Early this year, horror-metal titans Ice Nine Kills announced their upcoming eight-track EP, A Very Vicious Christmas. The collection features the band’s brutal, twisted reimagining of classic holiday carols. The songs were originally crafted specifically for Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights “Terror Tram starring Art the Clown.” They are set for digital release on Nov 9 via Fearless Records. Fans can pre-save the festive nightmare today.
Conceived at Silver Scream Con and Born from the Terror Tram
First revealed to screaming fans during the band’s annual Silver Scream Con in Worcester, Massachusetts, A Very Vicious Christmas brings the music beyond the blood-soaked Universal backlot for the first time. Across eight devastating tracks, Spencer Charnas and company put their signature cinematic metalcore spin on beloved holiday standards. The band completely transforms festive cheer into an unhinged, gore-drenched nightmare.
The EP’s tracklist delivers a holiday massacre from start to finish:
“Carol of the Bells”
“Jingle Bells”
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas”
“O Christmas Tree”
“Joy to the World”
“The Twelve Days of Christmas”
“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (Full Band Version)”
“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (Orchestral Version)”
Spencer Charnas on Teaming Up With Art the Clown
Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas shared his excitement about joining forces with the iconic Terrifier franchise once again:
“The Ice Nine Kills A Very Vicious Christmas EP is our early holiday gift to you all. When tasked with creating a musical accompaniment for Art the Clown’s assault on the Terror Tram, we immediately understood the assignment. Art loves Christmas. Who better to distastefully dismember some Christmas classics than Ice Nine Kills?
With lyrics like ‘oh what fun it is to die in a one hearse open slay’ and ‘he’ll grind your limbs like sausage meat,’ we weren’t sure we’d find a children’s choir whose parents would approve, but thankfully the spirit of the season prevailed.
We’re forever honored that Terrifier writer/director Damien Leone, producer Phil Falcone, and team invited us into their sandbox of bloodshed. Halloween Horror Nights is one of our favorite destinations, and this year it’s sounding even more festive.”
Halloween Horror Nights and the Terrifier Universe
In the “Terror Tram starring Art the Clown” attraction, the demented killer arrives at the historic Universal Studios Hollywood backlot holding a blood-soaked bag of presents. Realizing he has arrived far too early for Christmas, he hijacks the tram for his own twisted holiday celebration. The experience runs select nights through Sunday, Nov 1, while Orlando HHN attendees can encounter Art in the “Downtown Clowntown” scare zone.
This EP also deepens an incredible creative partnership between Ice Nine Kills, Art the Clown, and the Terrifier franchise. The band’s hit single “A Work of Art,” the official anthem for Terrifier 3, has racked up nearly 60 million streams after debuting at Number 3. It also spent 18 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. It also features a bloody music video starring David Howard Thornton.
Dominating October With AMC Thrills & Chills
The announcement arrives amidst a massive month of horror activations for the band. Their “Welcome to Horrorwood” AMC Thrills & Chills® film series—created in partnership with AMC Theatres® and Bloody Disgusting—is currently playing across 300 AMC locations nationwide. Inspired by The Silver Scream and The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, the month-long retrospective brings genre classics like Hostel, Friday the 13th, American Psycho, Pet Sematary, and The Crow back to the big screen, featuring exclusive introductions from Spencer Charnas and companion INK music videos.
An Unstoppable Reign Over Genre Media
These October takeovers build upon an unprecedented run through modern horror cinema and gaming. The band’s track “Twisting The Knife (feat. Mckenna Grace),” featured over the end credits of Scream 7, earned the group their first-ever No. 1 at Active Rock Radio and topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. Furthermore, “Hell or High Slaughter (Grave Diggler Pt. 2)” graces the soundtrack for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, while “Play Dead” was written for Dead by Daylight’s 10th anniversary alongside an in-game cosmetic collection. Charnas was also recently invited to voice a character in the upcoming Halloween: The Game.
Rounding Out the Year With an Acoustic Holiday Tour
To close out 2026, Ice Nine Kills will take part in “UNWRAPPED: An Acoustic Holiday,” a six-night acoustic tour taking place this December. The festive run also features acoustic performances from Smith & Myers of Shinedown, Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society, The Funeral Portrait, The Warning, Ayron Jones, and Sublime. Fans can find more information and purchase tickets at unwrappedlive.com.
UNWRAPPED: An Acoustic Holiday
Dec 1 — St. Augustine, FL
Dec 3 — Minneapolis, MN
Dec 5 — Seattle, WA
Dec 6 — Sacramento, CA
Dec 9 — Jersey City, NJ
Dec 11 — Baltimore, MD
