Album review: Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death

“Rock music is a horny vampire. And tonight, it is feasting upon you.”

How does one ratchet this idea of rock’n’roll up another notch? Even Creeper hadn’t planned this far. William Von Ghould told K! that the play had always been to do a trilogy of records, ending with The Vampire Album, as he put it. The answer, as the disembodied voice that lures you in to Sanguivore II implies, is that of the classic sequel: more, more, more. Faster, harder louder. Hornier, sexier, bigger, more bulging. More sex and sexuality. More vampiricism. Show more ankle, stuff your crotch bigger, fill everything with an excess of flamboyant, hammy, unreasonable and unapologetic camp. All this, before Creeper have even played a note.

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Here’s the wheeze: following 2023’s Sanguivore, on this second part, Creeper are now a vampire rock band on tour during the peak of 1980s rock excess. They are, however, being pursued by a mysterious and terrifying executioner: The Mistress Of Death. Imagine a Rocky Horror-ish caper with massive ’80s hair metal choruses and pyrotechnic guitar solos, and a villain played by a muscle-mommy Chyna impersonator, and you’re still nowhere close to just how brilliantly ridiculous all of this is. Of course, it’s coming out on Halloween.

Mistress Of Death (the song) is where Broadway meets Sunset Strip, gleefully describing its titular tormentor as the ‘Bringer of pain and punishment’, with more nervous excitement than fear. The already-classic single Blood Magick (It’s A Ritual) – a song with a video featuring a lesbian vampire orgy and snorting blood on drug kingpin Pablo Escobar’s gaudy private jet – intentionally weaves the blueprint Desmond Child used for bangers by Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper and Belinda Carlisle around demonic punk darkness, perfectly caught by production genius Tom Dalgety. It’s like Nightwish (again, intentionally) giddily spinning on a strip club pole.

When they shimmy away from stadium rock, things are no less grand. Daydreaming In The Dark is a theatri-goth banger with a twinkling chorus that sounds like Do They Know It’s Christmas. No, really. Yes, it’s inspired. And if you still need things hornier, the Hannah Greenwood-led Razor Wire throws in a massive sax solo to its purring jazzy slink.

This is all very knowing. Throughout, there’s lyrical references to Meat Loaf, to Rocky Horror, to The Sisters Of Mercy, to The Rolling Stones on power ballad closer Pavor Nocturnus, with its ‘I know it’s only rock’n’roll’ refrain. It sums up the celebration at the heart of Sanguivore II – of taking what you love and gorging on it so much you could drown. It is unashamed in both its ambition and its lust, embracing every one of its excesses.

Creeper have always been great. But in this current (and unexpectedly elongated) vampire phase, they’ve blossomed into their true, proper selves. Go on, Creeper, make this sequel part two of a trilogy.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Alice Cooper, My Chemical Romance, AFI

Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death is released on October 31 via Spinefarm

Read this next:

• Creeper’s Will Gould: The 10 songs that changed my life
• Creeper’s William Von Ghould: “I think it’s the most incredible thing, to be an outsider”
  
• Creeper: “It’s harder to take left turns the more you do it… this had to be darker and more grandiose”