Theatrical metalcore icons Ice Nine Kills surprised fans with a strange new website, titled whatisthegreatunknown.com. Throughout the past few months, the band has periodically referenced “The Great Unknown” on their social media posts, but have just now revealed that it is the title of a new song releasing on July 9. This new single could be leading into a new era for the band, perhaps one that ventures deeper into other film genres besides the horror aesthetic the band has become known for.
The URL leads to a presave link, and after presaving the single, it leads to a map with 8 folders, with 6 of them named after different locations. The first folder is titled “Welcome”, which features a robotic voice of frontman Spencer Charnas explaining that “The Great Unknown” will release on July 9 and that six USBs are hidden at various locations, with each USB containing a password to open the folders which contain previews of the single. The band posted a set of coordinates that led to the Los Angeles USB location, which, upon unlocking the folder, revealed a full isolated recording of the track’s drums.
Fans are clamoring online speculating about what the new song could be about. Many thought it might be a song about M3GAN due to the recurring themes of AI and the sequel’s recent release. Others assume it could be about the sci-fi horror classic Alien, which also features elements of AI and suits the website’s green color scheme and the title “The Great Unknown”. The Thing, John Carpenter’s hit film, was another idea among fans, due to the band’s storyline of Spencer being “replaced”. However, many fans have agreed that the song might be based on something unexpected from a primarily horror-inspired band: The Matrix. Many signs, such as the red pill imagery and green text on the website and the first USB being found at a phone booth, point to the possibility that Ice Nine Kills will be delving into full sci-fi with their next single. The Matrix also takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that had been overtaken by AI, which fits the recurring theme the band is going for.
Ice Nine Kills has, in fact, made songs based on non-horror movies before, such as The Crow and Edward Scissorhands. Therefore, a song based on The Matrix may very much be in the realm of possibility. Either way, fans will continue to have fun speculating and unlocking the contents of the folders until the mystery is finally revealed on July 9.
