Creeper - Black Mass

There’s always been more to Creeper than their black-clad, goth-punk exterior might suggest. While contemporaries with similar wardrobes might be content to tread water in their navel-gazing, fringe-swooshing scene, the Southampton group instead push forward with every step, drawing endless influence from all corners of all universes, both finite and fantastical. It’s that spirit of re-invention which ‘Black Mass’ exudes in spades, dancing between fist-aloft punk-rock and ballroom blitz with ease. Just two EPs in, they’re contorting themselves into new shapes which are already almost unrecognisable from the scrappy, serrated punk rock of their self-titled first EP - ‘Black Mass’ owes as much to Meatloaf as it does The Misfits. Thundering forward from the off, its nevertheless when they pull everything back that Creeper reveal their winning hand, a subdued, waltzing breather bringing frontman Will Gould’s love of theatrical fantasy to the foreground like never before. “I’m not a dream that you wish you’d had,” cries Will throughout, but he couldn’t be further from the truth - diving into Creeper’s dreamworld has never been so satisfying, and ‘The Stranger’ looks set to be their most triumphant step of their evolution yet.