Ice Nine Kills have teamed up with Tony Hawk for their bruising new Dead By Daylight anthem ‘Play Dead’.
Originally released in 2016, Dead By Daylight is a hugely popular online multiplayer survival horror game that’s featured collaborations with Stranger Things, Saw and Alien, as well as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Even Iron Maiden and Slipknot have crossed over into the Dead By Daylight universe.
Today (June 26), Ice Nine Kills have released their new Dead By Daylight anthem, the crushingly heavy ‘Play Dead’. The video stars skating legend Tony Hawk, Final Destination actor Devon Sawa and Terrifier 3 star Krsy Fox. Check it out below:
As well as the new song, a special Ice Nine Kills collection is also available in Dead By Daylight.
“Ice Nine Kills has always lived somewhere between menace and mischief. ‘Play Dead,’ our take on Dead By Daylight, is a collision of hooks, horror and total chaos,” said the band’s vocalist Spencer Charnas in a statement. “Collaborating with Dead By Daylight gave us the chance to step into a world that feels deeply aligned with our creative instincts. The game has an incredible legacy, and that chaotic, eerie, immersive energy is something we respect and admire. We wanted the song to feel like a real extension of that universe, not just inspired by it, but genuinely part of it.
Ice Nine Kills worked closely with longtime Dead By Daylight composer Michel F. April on ‘Play Dead’ and also spent time with the game’s creative team as well as diehard fans.
“Having Tony Hawk appear with us [in the music video] felt essential because he isn’t just the Michael Jordan of skateboarding. He’s synonymous with the marriage of music, gaming, and subculture,” Charnas added. “We bonded over the same offbeat pop-culture touchstones, from punk rock to the irreverent ’80s comedies like The Naked Gun that shaped my brain just as much as horror did.”
‘Play Dead’ follows on from Ice Nine Kills’ official Scream 7 collaboration ‘Twisting The Knife’, which featured actor and singer McKenna Grace. The band performed at Download Festival earlier this month and have confirmed details of a tour for early 2027 – which will include their biggest ever headline gig at London’s O2 Arena on March 28. You can get tickets here.
Dead By Daylight celebrated it’s 10th anniversary earlier this month. Game developers Behaviour Interactive claimed the title was the “most-played horror game in history” and work had started on a movie adaptation.
In other news Stage Tour, the spiritual successor to Guitar Hero, will feature tracks from Paramore, Avril Lavigne and more on its soundtrack – check out the full list here.