"The hooks are heavier, the peaks are higher, and the pacing is picture-perfect": Creeper drop the performance of their lives on Sanguivore II - Mistress Of Death
British goth rockers Creeper outdo themselves on fangtastic fourth album
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How do you follow the best album of your decade-long career? The one that pulledeverything together in impressively fearless fashion? When 'everything' means goth rock drama, horror-punk opera andJim Steinman-esque epics about doomed vampire lovers?
For Creeper, the question is wholly rhetorical. You do it all over again, obviously. Halloween sees the arrival ofSanguivore II – when else? – but really, it would be a disservice to call it theReload toSanguivore’sLoad. Mostly because it’s even better. The hooks are heavier, the peaks are higher, and the pacing is picture-perfect.
Once again, the Southampton sextet worked with Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Rammstein, The Cult, Opeth), clearly a producer with a knack for capturing dark and theatrical rock. Creeper have said that this is a thematic sequel in which a vampire band rampages across America amid the Satanic panic of the eighties. Patricia Morrison’s spoken intro onA Shadow Stirs tells it another way: ‘Rock music is a horny vampire and tonight it is feasting upon you’.
As ever, none of this half-baked lore and/or buffoonery works without a host of supreme songs to back it up, and boy,Sanguivore II has ’em. That leads us intoMistress Of Death, which rumbles along with metallic pomp before a bone-rattling, primeMegadeth breakdown, opening the gates for a series of epic guitar harmonies.
As a lead single,Headstones is a no-brainer – thinkMotörhead’sBurner cosplaying as Creeper. A briskly brilliant three minutes of exploding guitars, double kick drums, rapturous gang vocals and, of course, handclaps.‘Surrender your soul to the sins of the devil’s caress,’ William von Ghould barks. Where do we sign up, mate?
Blood Magick (It’s A Ritual) sounds like Belinda Carlisle post-unholy makeover. As glorious razor-edged guitars scythe through just about everything, Hannah Greenwood’s soaring vocals – where the hook owes plenty toHeaven Is A Place On Earth – are the perfect counterpoint to Ghould’s deliciously droll baritone.
Brooding and irresistible,Prey For The Night is quite possibly the best songMeat Loaf never wrote.On Razor Wire, decapitation has never sounded sexier, thanks to its smoky piano and raunchy saxophone bursts. As the spellbindingPavor Nocturnus closes, it’s clear that Creeper have dropped the performance of their lives.Sanguivore II is one of those rare and precious rock records: instantly bewitching but oozing with moments to feast on time after time.
Copywriter, music journalist and drummer. Once fist bumped James Hetfield. Words for The Guardian, Gear4Music, Metro, Exposed Mag.
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