If you arrive at a new Creeper record to be met with a 9-minute opener complete with a ‘Tubular Bells’ intro driving straight into a modern day âBat Out of Hellâ and are taken by surprise, you must be new here. For those that have been following the bandâs career a little closer in the past few years, it’s a simple âwell, what did you expect?â.
The Southampton horror rockersâ trajectory from shy but innovative punks to the My Chemical Romance for the Snapchat generation, makes their pivot to glam rock superstars seem like complete sense. Their third full-length album, âSanguivoreâ, is their latest incarnation and brings with it the theatrics, hair metal and ĂŒber spook that wouldnât look out of place on an Alice Cooper or Meatloaf record.
Creeper have been emo darlings with their âcallous heartsâ on 2017âs âEternity, in Your Armsâ; theyâve had their âMelon Collie and the Infinite Sadnessâ moment with 2020âs concept album âSex, Death and the Infinite Voidâ, and now theyâve arrived at the over-the-top gothic anthemic record of âSanguivoreâ.
Its name alone, referring  to an animal that nourishes itself on the blood of others, gives an indication in which direction itâs about to take you. We are introduced to âSpookâ and âMercyâ, the main protagonists of this concept record, and you can tell the way this will go – itâs a pick your poison record which takes elements from kings of the âvampire rockâ genre like the Misfits, the Damned, Danzig and Gary Numan. Amidst the darkness, however, this is just a hell of a fun album.
Brace yourself for the rock and roll Nightmare Before Christmas-esque opener, âFurther Than Foreverâ, an extended epic which welcomes you into the show. Vocalist Will Gould, now going by the apt title of ‘William von Ghould’ is in his element with his booming signature crooner/Broadway stalwart pipes fitting so perfectly to this cavalcade of camp horror.
If âFurther Than Foreverâ was Creeperâs answer to âBat Out of Hellâ, then lead single âCry To Heavenâ will blow every hair metal song out of the water. Itâs a rampaging track with the kind of meaty guitar riffs that Mötley CrĂŒe could only dream of, while keyboardist Hannah Greenwoodâs vocal performance in the chorus is truly soaring.
Throughout âSanguivoreâ, Creeper borrow heavily from the goth rock peers such as Misfits, in the thrashing âSacred Blasphemyâ and âChapel Gatesâ, and Depeche Mode on the synth-heavy âBlack Heavenâ, while you canât help being transported to the chaos and ridiculousness of an Alice Cooper show on âTeenage Sacrificeâ. One of the instant earworms of the record, it has everything from the classic horror organs staccatos, the church choir backing vocals and devastatingly â80s guitar riffs.
It wouldnât be a Creeper record if we werenât treated to a couple crooning classics from Von Ghould. We get to know our main protagonists a little more on âThe Ballad of Spook & Mercyâ, a devious tale of two supernatural killers on the run and, in classic Creeper fashion, it ends on a piano ballad with screamed words âI will love you more than deathâ (on closer âMore Than Deathâ).
Creeperâs ability and ingenuity to constantly reinvent themselves with each album cycle is one of their amazing qualities. âSanguivoreâ, like what has gone before it, is a huge, ambitious departure yet still retaining the very aspects that make this band so good.
âSanguivoreâ is at times hilarious, at times heartbreaking, at times quite weird but itâs a work of art and highlights how Creeper continue to surprise even their most loyal fans.
TOM WALSH