ICE NINE KILLS Slash Their Way To First-Ever No. 1 At Active Rock Radio With 'Twisting The Knife (Feat. 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, Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's "Scream 7".

The milestone marks a killer new chapter for a track that has already cut deep across streaming, radio, and the wider INKverse. "Twisting The Knife" 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, the FOO FIGHTERS to the top spot, hit No. 1 on U.S. YouTube's Current Rock, Hard Rock and Metal Music Videos charts, and helped soundtrack "Scream 7"'s record-breaking box office debut. It now becomes the first song written for the iconic franchise to hit No. 1 at radio. To date, "Twisting The Knife" has clocked up 32.2 million cross-platform streams.

Speaking on the news, ICE NINE KILLS frontman Spencer Charnas shares: "'Scream' has been and will always be a monumental influence on us, and the music has been every bit as important as the films themselves, starting with Marco Beltrami's brilliant score.

"The soundtrack to the original 'Scream' was especially life-changing for me, from BIRDBRAIN's 'Youth of America' and SOHO's 'Whisper To A Scream' to, of course, NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS' iconic 'Red Right Hand'. Hearing those songs still takes me right back to that moment in time. To now be included among the songs that make up the legacy of this franchise is one of the greatest honors of our career. Equally meaningful is the opportunity to help bridge the worlds of rock music and horror cinema once again. That connection once felt central to both communities, but it has faded somewhat over the past couple of decades. We're proud to play even a small role in bringing those worlds back together."

The No. 1 adds another weapon to an already formidable arsenal for ICE NINE KILLS, whose recent horror franchise collaborations include "A Work of Art" from "Terrifier 3", "Hell Or High Slaughter (Grave Diggler: Pt. 2)" from "Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come" and the recently announced inclusion of Spencer voicing a playable character in the highly anticipated official "Halloween" video game. Each release has pushed the band deeper into horror history, strengthening their place at the intersection of heavy music, cinematic world-building, and genre fandom.

And the next scene is already set.

During "Dead By Daylight"'s 10th-anniversary broadcast, Behaviour Interactive revealed a new collaboration with ICE NINE KILLS. The band's "Dead By Daylight"-inspired track "Play Dead" arrives this Friday, June 26, bringing the INKverse into one of horror gaming's most beloved and successful releases.

The achievement arrives at a time when ICE NINE KILLS are operating on a scale few bands in modern heavy music can match. With more than two billion global streams, over 500 million YouTube views, sold-out tours across multiple continents, a two-and-a-half-year run supporting METALLICA in stadiums worldwide, major collaborations spanning "Terrifier 3", "Scream 7", "Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come" and now "Dead By Daylight", the band continues to blur the line between music, horror, gaming, and cinema. "Twisting The Knife" becoming their first Active Rock Radio No. 1 is another milestone in a career that shows no signs of slowing down.

Charnas previously stated about "Twisting The Knife": "'Twisting The Knife' is our tribute to Wes Craven and the 'Scream' franchise, which means so much to us. 'Scream' is baked into the DNA of who I am and of ICE NINE KILLS — my love of horror, comedy, and the collision between the two. I was already obsessed with 'Halloween' and 'Friday The 13th', but 'Scream' was the first I saw in theatres. Hearing the killer talk about horror movies, in that distinctively pop-culture savvy Kevin Williamson way, blew my mind.

"In recent years, we've gotten to know and work with Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy, Lee Waddell, and others in different capacities. We announced the collaboration with 'Scream 7' at Wembley Arena, with Ghostface and Rose McGowan, which was surreal in itself.

"When we learned that Mckenna Grace is a fan of our band, it made perfect sense to invite her to sing. She recorded her part in my home studio, in the same room where I keep my screen-used 'Scream' knife prop, one of the four rubber knives made for the first movie.

"Marco Beltrami's 'Scream' scores are just as influential to me as any other component of the films. In our song, there are echoes of the moody atmospheres he's created, with our own INK twist."

Mckenna Grace adds: "Making this song was such a special experience for me. I am such a big INK fan and it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to play with a different style of music. I am so inspired by Amy Lee's vocals and we all wanted to channel 'Scream' and Sydney's story as best as we could. Spencer and the guys were so much fun to collaborate with and I'm so thankful to Kevin Williamson."

The accompanying music video continues ICE NINE KILLS' signature horror-cinema homage, blending performance with a post-video narrative short that continues the ever-expanding INKverse lore. The voice of Ghostface himself, Roger L. Jackson, reprises his iconic role. The story picks up directly from 2025's "The Laugh Track", which saw Matthew Lillard playing himself. This instalment escalates the meta-horror further, with David Arquette (as himself),alongside Johnny Brennan, creator of "The Jerky Boys", as Francis Rizzowitz.

"Twisting The Knife" was first teased during ICE NINE KILLS' massive headlining show at London's OVO Arena Wembley, where the band staged the onstage "death" of "Scream" star Rose McGowan, followed by an onstage video call from Ghostface.

Photo credit: F Scott Schafer