Russell HughesCreeper – Sex, Death & the Infinite Void (Roadrunner Records)
Only Creeper could make the unhappy, happy. The cold, warm. And all while drying the tears they force to be shed.
Their second album is as uniquely brilliant as the first, while the band have retained their ability to unlock hearts and minds. It’s sad, it’s happy, it makes you think and it makes you dance. All within the same song.
If Eternity, in Your Arms was a scattergun stream of consciousness shouting into darkness, Sex, Death & the Infinite Void is it’s more considered cousin. They’re pretty closely related, but you’d want to double check the family tree before kissing either of them.
Creeper have always changed and moulded their sound. From their very beginnings as a hybrid emo-punk sounding unit to their debut album that embraced a more guitar rock driven atmosphere to Sex, Death & the Infinite’s version of Creeper.
One thing underpinning the whole show is lead vocalist Will Gould, who sings with the type of feeling that sends shivers down your spine and puts tears in your eyes. At their best, this is what this band are good at. They are capable of unlocking emotion at every turn – and if anyone could get blood from a stone it would be these guys.
Keyboard player Hannah Greenwood is one of the really interesting parts of this band and she really comes into the fore on the beautiful All My Friends and the duet on Four Years Ago, which is another example of the stunning beauty this band can create, despite the sadness.
On Naplam Girls we see a Black Rain style spark from the band as Gould spits ‘her kiss is violence, her kiss is vi-o-lence’, while Be My End and Born Cold channels the spirit of their debut album most closely. Born Cold displays Creeper’s intoxicating mix of relationship fatalism with an impossible-to-ignore chorus line.
Seeing this record performed live would ram home just how special it is, but while that’s not possible just put some good headphones on, close your eyes and let Creeper do their thing.