One year ago, Creeper performed a set in London’s Roundhouse which ended with lead singer Will Gould appearing to be decapitated on stage, marking the end of a musical era for the band which consisted of 2020’s ‘Sex, Death & the Infinite Void’ and its EP epilogue ‘American Noir’. Now, a new chapter begins with ‘Sanguivore’, a fresh, vampiric concept album which is rather fittingly released on Friday the 13th.
Gould, performing as William von Gould for this record, describes ‘Sanguivore’ as “a new tragic story of love, loss and vampires”. On this album, Creeper explore goth in all of its musical forms with reference to its literary history, all brought together with the band’s typical sense of drama and theatricality. In short, Sanguivore is their boldest and most ambitious project to date, featuring some of the finest songs in their acclaimed discography.
This ambition is clear from the moment ‘Sanguivore’ begins with the nine-minute rock-opera epic ‘Further Than Forever’. Following a songs-within-a-song style in the vein of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Jesus of Suburbia’, it acts as an overture reminiscent of The Rocky Horror Show. The track combines the different musical styles that will appear throughout the album, from the Exorcist-style pianos that kick it off, mixing with metal-influenced guitars, massive musical theatre moments, and spoken word.
The lyrics vary between passages that wouldn’t sound out of place in Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire and more outrageous lines like “I’m the devil doing good deeds instead / I’m Jesus in a strip club giving head”, that will surely get them condemned by the Westboro Baptist Church again. No doubt this excess and over-indulgence won’t be to everyone’s taste, but those who understand Creeper’s mission to embrace the camp theatricality of alternative rock will fall instantly in love with ‘Sanguivore’.
From there, we take a whirlwind tour of goth music’s varied sonic history, from the classic metal-inspired ‘Teenage Sacrifice’ to a foray into darkwave on ‘Black Heaven’ and ‘Lovers Led Astray’. ‘The Ballad of Spook and Mercy’ is heavily influenced by Nick Cave murder ballads like ‘Henry Lee’ and ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow.’ There are even moments of classic Creeper with the fast-paced, punkier-sounding ‘Sacred Blasphemy’ and ‘Chapel Gates’ that take us back to the days before ‘Sex, Death, And The Infinite Void’.
Finally, we end on a soft piano finish with ‘More Than Death’, the epilogue to this great Gothic masterpiece in which Will Gould is at his very best, with a voice that could effortlessly fill any room. Also on top form throughout the album is guitarist Ian Miles, providing some of the band’s finest and most impressive guitar solos to date.
Following in the footsteps of rock operas like Bat Out of Hell and American Idiot, ‘Sanguivore’ is an album I’d pay to see on stage a thousand times, whether it was in a live music venue or a theatre. Taking the band’s camp theatricality even further than what we heard on ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’, Creeper have created something that simultaneously pays homage to the bands that came before, and which is totally cutting-edge in the modern rock landscape.
9/10
Words: Vicky Greer
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