LISTEN: Ice Cold Killers Take the Punk Torch On New Single “You’re Dead To Me”
LISTEN: Ice Cold Killers Take the Punk Torch On New Single “You’re Dead To Me”
The New York quartette decimate the contemporary landscape with razor-sharp guitars and searing lyrics.
Words by: Garrett Kearns
New York punk rockers the Ice Cold Killers have unleashed their new single “You’re Dead to Me” from their upcoming album Stories from the Grave out August 27. The track’s frenetic energy and gritty sound would fit right at home at CBGB. You can practically smell the sweat as “You’re Dead to Me” by the Ice Cold Killers is no-frills, straight-ahead punk as mean and dirty as it gets. The song is an unrelenting three-chord beast that makes no apologies for being brash. The band snarls and spits in waves of distortion that would make their punk forebears proud.
“You’re Dead to Me” starts with a crash of drums and guitar, letting us know what we’re in for. Ice Cold Killers wastes no time and gets right into the first verse, speeding along like an unchained engine. There are no stops, no peaks and valleys, just straightforward unfiltered intensity. The lyrics of the chorus are emphasized with staccato notes from the rest of the band, hammering the words into our ears. As a result, the song is a simple, but tried-and-true formula of trademark punk.
The Ice Cold Killers are what some might call a throwback band — while the label might be technically accurate, the group isn’t pumping out radio-friendly bops like the Eagles. They’ve returned to a period in music when rock was revolutionized by an influx of back-to-basics bands like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash. The Ice Cold Killers have integrity. They’re punk purists of the strictest sense.
“You’re Dead to Me,” and punk in general, is rock and roll stripped down to the essentials. No keyboards, minimal overdubs, and a recording that comes as close as possible to their live sound. The band shared this about the single: “People come and people go. And the door is forever revolving. But sometimes you have to kill off characters in your story. So they may never return.”
“You’re Dead to Me” dares us not to chant along to the repeated battle cry of the chorus. It’s as if the band’s mission statement for this song went like this: Technical prowess? Don’t need it. High production? Leave it for the pop stars. Fancy fretwork? Don’t give a damn. Punk never needed a rulebook and neither do The Ice Cold Killers.
