"Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void" by Creeper
In 2014, Pulp, The Misfits, Roy Orbison, Phoebe Bridgers, Arctic Monkeys, and Conner Oberst collectively had a band-child and named it Creeper. When that band-baby grew up, after a ritzy hardcore punk phase, it started laughing at God, drinking screwdrivers, and romanticizing the failed love triangle (hexagon?) of its parents. It also decided to record and album during all of that and it is called Sex Death and the Infinite Void.
To be less obtuse, Creeper is an alternative rock band from Southampton that until their latest record have sounded like a virtuoso version of the Misfits covered in rhinestones and glitter. In my mind, their latest record Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void sounds more comparable to Orville Peck covering Three Cheers for Sweet Revenege. Not only is it also a loose concept album, but it blends genres in an innovative way like MCR first did on Three Cheers, expect Creeper crosses country and western with glam rock and hardcore.
The album begins with a spoken word section voiced by Patricia Morrison of The Sisters of Mercy and The Damned about joining hands for the devil. I was raised Christian, and something about being told to worship Satan in the rain will always strike an angsty, transgressive chord in me that I can’t resist. “Be My End” is a catchy rock song in the vein of angsty-white-boy-anthems like “Mr. Brightside '' and features vocal production akin to Frank Iero screaming doubled vocals behind Gerard Way. Xandy Barry, who has worked with Miley Cirus, Rhianna, and New Order to give some perspective, produced this album so the sonic quality is top-notch, broad, and unique. By the time you hit the bridge of this track, you get a wild, reverby baritone guitar straight out of an old Spaghetti Western.
“Born Cold” makes it clear that the merch for this album will be totally bitchin’; “the hangman hangs himself” t-shirts could look so rad. “Cyanide” took me a few listens to really sink into, but the piano part in it does everything Jack White’s Blunderbuss wishes it could (and just who exactly does Creeper think they are making a slide guitar sound that sexy?). “Anabelle” is another single-quality track which makes sense marketing wise; front-load your album with the hits. That said, the album has the audacity to stay absolutely killer and actually become a much more unique and self-identified album as it goes along.
“Paradise” is where things start to get weird. Am I in Twin Peaks? How dare you mash-up Enicho Morrichone and Queen like that, my ears are so overstimulated. Don’t stop. Regardless of the genre experimentation happening , like “Thorns of Love” with its Rocky Horror vibe, each song consistently serves up huge, anthemic choruses My favorite track though, is the album’s penultimate track “All My Friends,” written from one member of the band to another, who was locked in an institution struggling with mental health issues. This is one of the best rock-ballads about platonic love I have ever heard, and it maintains the grandiose and theatrical feel of the rest of the album without teetering too far into cheeseball territory.
And Creeper is right, all my friends do hurt and I recommend they all listen to Sex, Death, and the Inifinite Void to ease their loneliness. Despite the comparisons that have been made to other albums, those comparisons only apply to individual pieces of this one. Sex, Death and the Infinite Void sculpts a new sound out of familiar parts to create an inspiring and exciting record that makes me predict an onslaught of new goth country-and-western bands in the not-so-distant future.
– Shane Wells