Having got their black summer underway with the slithering gothic sleaze of their recent single ‘Cry To Heaven’ and a triumphant surprise headline set at Download Festival, CREEPER today unveil the new single ‘Teenage Sacrifice’. It’s the second song to preview their vampiric new album ‘Sanguivore’ which will be released on October, Friday the 13th and represents the follow-up to their Top 5 album ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’.
Echoing the crunching stadium-scale ‘80s metal of Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest, ‘Teenage Sacrifice’ commences with a spiralling riff from Ian Miles which wraps itself like barbed wire around William Von Ghould’s anthemic hook. William Von Ghould says, “The song introduces Mercy, the protagonist of the ‘Sanguivore’ narrative. She’s deceptively innocent yet savagely violent, and her ability to make people fall under her spell is just one indication that Mercy is not all that she seems.” ‘Teenage Sacrifice’ is also a song in which a typically intricate CREEPER narrative is given a whiplash of devilishly dark humour courtesy of Von Ghould’s opening lyrics: “All my friends are digging graves and I’m giving them the shovels / I’m burning churches to the ground and making love in the rubble.” As with the rest of the ‘Sanguivore’ album, ‘Teenage Sacrifice’ is the product of CREEPER’s creative union with producer Tom Dalgety (Ghost, The Cult). The accompanying music video, directed by Billy Howard Price and Jacek Zmarz, is both an unsettling and terrifying glance into Mercy’s world. She may just have been around a little longer than her teenage looks might suggest… It’s a visual which, like the band’s music, darts between eras with some of the sinister surreal touches of an A24 folk-horror and a little Hammer Horror-style flamboyance. Taking a darker turn from ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’, ‘Sanguivore’ is a thrillingly theatrical new story that the band’s ever-growing army of devotees will devour themselves within. Riffing upon fearsome throwback vampire flicks such as ‘Near Dark’, ‘The Lost Boys’ and ‘Interview With The Vampire’, its narrative focuses upon Mercy and her relationship with Spook, an older man who falls under her control but doesn’t quite lose sight of their previous humanity. Somehow the music is wilder than the narrative, taking in sonic touchstones including Jim Steinman, Sisters of Mercy, Billy Idol, Nick Cave, pagan-folk, late ‘70s punk and gloomy industrial synth textures. It’s all larger-than-life, darker-than-death, and the best album CREEPER have ever recorded. ‘Sanguivore’ is available to pre-order HERE. While all test pressings quickly sold out, four vinyl editions are available each of which is packaged with a signed art print. CREEPER’s most recent UK headline show came at London’s Roundhouse, where William Von Ghould stepped out to thank the sold-out audience when a mysterious figure leapt from the shadows and decapitated him in front of 3300 people. They will follow the release of ‘Sanguivore’ by embarking upon the following ‘Sacred Blasphemy’ tour dates. Remaining tickets are available HERE. NOVEMBER5th – Bristol, O2 Academy6th – Glasgow, Clyde Room8th – Nottingham, Rock City9th – Manchester, Academy10th – London, 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire