Article and Photos By: Adrienne Row – Smith

Ottawa – Ontario, almost a year has past since horror inspired Ice Nine Kills slayed Canada’s capital city, and so the hype was strong at Zaphods for their return! Joining Ice Nine Kills was Rhode Island Natives It Lives, It Breathes and New York based Sirens and Sailors.

First up for the night, was It Lives, It Breathes who wanted to make the most of their trip and time in Ottawa, Canada. The band made the most of their small stage space, it was amazing to see jumps and kicks and a real connection between the members. They played things off their debut album Silver|Knights, and also threw an impressive cover of Linkin Park’s Numb. The band had to coax the crowd into giving them a chance, but it worked out in their favour, by the end of their set they had a majority of the patrons of the evening dancing and having a good time. With that said, I hope these guys make a return to Ottawa or Canada, as they were great live.

Before Sirens and Sailors could even begin to play their set, they had a large crowd cheering in excitment, as it was also their first time playing Ottawa. Defintely a genre depature than their tour mates, Sirens and Sailors brought the hardcore dancing out of the crowd and got the pit fired up. They played songs from their entire body of work, including Straight Jacket and Never There. The band were lively and owned the stage, and provided great stage work that included a choregraphed two step in a break down. Even though this was an Ice Nine Kills headliner – the crowd was adament that Sirens and Sailors was well deserving of their attention!

Now Ice Nine Kills set the scene with their show, by providing a back track that stated that the crowd was actually at a high school prom. When vocalist Spencer Charnas finally got up on stage, he was decked out in traditional prom wear, minus the tuxedo pants. As soon as they got into their first song, the crowd went wild and moshing, jumping and pushing up against each other in order to interact with Spencer and the rest of the band. The band played a set heavy with songs from their recent release Every Trick in the Book like Me, Myself and Hyde, Bloodbath and Beyond, but also included songs from earlier works such as The Fastest Way To A Girls Heart Is Through Her Ribcage. The band also took some time out of their set to crown Ottawa’s Prom King and Queen, and took a picture with the entire crowd. When the band intially finished their set, many of the crowd were left applauding and slowly the crowd began to chant for one more song. This went on for several minutes, until Ice Nine Kills came out and played the hard hitting Communion of the Cursed, which had Charnas climb into the crowd and stand ontop of the crowd’s hands.