Sex, Death and the Infinite Void // Creeper
Released: 31 July
It’s been a whirlwind few tears for Southampton based goth-punks Creeper, from infamously ‘breaking the band up’ on stage in 2018 and going radio silent for an entire year, to the months of internal struggle within the band which nearly called time on their promising career for real. Throw in a delayed release because of the pandemic and just getting this album into people’s hands is an achievement in and of itself. Luckily for the band, the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut Eternity, In Your Arms doesn’t just break the old adage of a sophomore slump, it smashes it to pieces.
While leaving behind the fast-paced, AFI-inspired punk they were known for caused some concerns initially, Creeper proved fans wrong by making an artistic statement that is truly difficult to assign a genre to. There’s still some punk sensibilities lingering around, but they’re covered in eyeliner, doused in Americana and sprinkled with Ziggy Stardust. It’s a breath of fresh air to hear vocalist Will Gould’s pure flamboyant creativity unfold of the course of the record, and it’s even more refreshing to see an album harbouring songs as bold and unapologetic as ‘Thorns of Love’ and ‘Black Moon’ bag a top five in the UK charts.