Blood Ice Herald the Birth of ‘Hockeycore’

Metal bands seem to love nothing more than conjuring up arbitrary genre tags to describe their art, spawning a multitude of micro-genres like 'pirate metal,' 'war metal' and 'necropunk,' for better or for worse. The latest entry into the realm of over-analysis is West Philadelphia's hardcore/crossover thrash bruisers Blood Ice, who, alongside like-minded souls in New York's Two Man Advantage, are spearheading a revolution. Its name? Hockeycore!

Blood Ice frontman Matt 'Mattitude' Emmerich gave Noisecreep the scoop on the methods behind the madness. "I was working a courier job with our guitarist Ed 'Bloody Clark' Gonet. We had a lot of down time, and would watch YouTube videos of the old school hockey fights. We just started bulls---ting about how we should start a band to glorify the 'Broad Street Bullies,' the Philadelphia Flyers nickname when they won the Stanley cup in 1974 and 1975. They were tough, dirty and wore long hair and mustaches. This was also an era when hockey players could get away with partying real hard. Pretty awesome subject matter to glorify!" he grins.

It wasn't just the love of hockey itself that got Blood Ice started. It was also an appreciation for hockeycore forebears. "Also, the first punk band I ever got really into was Two Man Advantage. I was 14 and heard the song 'Penalty Box,' a melodic pop ballad about taking some one down and having to go to the box. I listened to that song about 300 time that summer until i finally made it to a show and go the CD, 'Drafted.' I dedicated the rest of high school to following them, going to as many shows as possible and moshing my ass off at shows." He sums it up with, "Guess I just always wanted to be in a hockeycore band! Currently, I am trying to get a roller hockey ... game/league going in South Philly on Sunday afternoons. I'd like to get a Blood Ice team together, so dust off your roller blades, pick up an axe, come down and listen to punk rock, roast a bone and play hockey!"

So why hockey instead of heavy metal-approved sports like football or wrestling? "Hockey is an attack on all of an individual's senses. If you are fortunate to afford to go to a pro hockey game the sound of metal cutting into ice in intoxicating," Emmerich explains. "I love the way my heart races when I anticipate a big hit or a great save. Can't really explain it, but hockey just does it for me."

Basement shows and living room mosh pits are Blood Ice's calling card. Frenetic frontman Mattitude careens around the room, hockey stick in hand and helmet not so firmly in place, stealing swigs of cheap whiskey from the crowd and catapulting himself into the air at any given moment while Ed holds it down on guitar, and drummer Bullock smashes his way through their three-minute maelstroms.

A recent gig with Two Man Advantage at the Terrordome in West Philly saw them and various members of Blood Ice losing their shirts, spewing mouthfuls of god knows what all over the crowd, dedicating songs like 'Checked on the Open Ice,' 'Blood Ice,' 'Eric Lindros Is Gay,' 'Injured Reserve,' 'Spectrum Blues' and 'Beer Hunter' to their favorite players, sliding across the beer-slicked floor, climbing over fallen circle pit casualties and culminating in a glorious whiskey-soaked dogpile. This is hockeycore!