Creeper - Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death

“Rock music is a horny vampire,” so says the spoken-word introduction on ‘A SHADOW STIRS’, opener on this fourth full-length from Creeper and companion record to 2023’s ‘Sanguivore’. Here, it forms just part of a guest spot from Patricia Morrison, narrating dramatically over a track which employs ‘80s-style synth rhythms, a choir, and the kind of excessive synth stabs usually reserved for ‘90s ballads, their presence warmer than the pure horror soundtrack the album’s thematic setup - ‘Mistress of Death’ included - might suggest. But the track - and that line in particular - does a fine job at scene-setting a record where bombast reaches similar heights to the tousled hair metal it owes much of its sound to, and a (wholly expected, let’s be honest) thematic lyrical turn allows for more than the odd ‘wait… did he really say that?’. 


There’s a skill in using tropes without falling into cliche, and across ‘Sanguivore II…’ Creeper seem to have mastered it. Over the top guitar solos, metallic breakdowns and final-third key changes; it’s a record that if isn’t quite tongue-in-cheek (and one wonders if the “some nights are as cold as ice…” line in ‘MISTRESS OF DEATH’ is indeed that) is tongue-cheek adjacent, the band’s commitment to the bit enviable. Its ‘80s pomp is delivered as if its clenched fist is held permanently against its chest, its rampant pace mentally soundtracking a hard rock-based cinematic mission. Because of this, when moments appear a little too familiar, it only serves to underscore the band’s vision: the chorus of ’BLOOD MAGICK’ is essentially ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ with a sprinkling of Bon Jovi; the intros of ‘PREY FOR THE NIGHT’ and ‘DAYDREAMING IN THE DARK’ bringing to mind ‘Kids in America’ and ‘Simply the Best’ respectively; and perhaps most on-the-nose, the synth pulse of interlude ‘FROM THE DEPTHS BELOW’ bears uncanny resemblance to the title sequence for Stranger Things. Even the out-of-decade likeness - ’THE CRIMSON BRIDE’ and its chorus melody that mirrors the Manfred Mann’-released, Bob Dylan-penned ‘The Mighty Quinn’ - creates a kind of anemoia; it’s a new record, yes, but in its meshing together of time and genre conventions, much like the aforementioned show, is one which sounds as if it has somehow always existed. 


So immersive too are the lyrical references - that Creeper should choose to release on Halloween comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the band, but this here is pure comic book gore (“The time has come to give your life for love / Swallow it darling, drink the blood / Drink the blood” being one example, from ‘BLOOD MAGICK’) - that a few choice metaphors slip in relatively unnoticed. ‘THE BLACK HOUSE’, which arrives musically like a sped-up Joy Division, its booming bass line strutting above disco-like drums, offers a chorus sequence that if at first raises an eyebrow, by its end full on blushes: “In her heart-shaped pool / Inside her palace of pink / Inside her red leather hall”. As sprawling closer ‘PAVOR NOCTURNUS’ reintroduces the record’s narrator after a cacophony of piano, choir, saxophone and strings, it perhaps turns out that yes, rock music is a vampire, and yes, it is in fact horny too.