Ez Luscombe
Despite not many Creeper fans potentially being familiar with Lowen due to the wildly different musical styles of both groups. The heavy, prog and doom inspired metal outfit have been successfully blending traditional Middle Eastern music with western heavy metal genres like doom, death, and progressive metal since 2017 and their performance at Camden’s Koko could only be described as hypnotic. The entire audience seemed to be in total silence, mesmerised as Nina Saeidi took to the stage in traditional Middle Eastern attire, brandishing a sword, and singing a cappella in her native tongue. Combined with Cal Constantine’s ferocious, stampede-like drumming which combined with the impressive acoustics of the venue, sounded thunderous and contrasted with Saeidi’s spellbinding stage presence perfectly and Shem Lucas’s chugging guitar riffs and impressive soloing, Lowen wears the culture of their ancestors with an immense sense of pride whilst also moving heavy metal in a more progressive, theatrical direction.
Performing their vampiric 2023 gothic-rock magnum opus Sanguivore in full, the pre-show hype surrounding one of Creeper’s biggest performances to date was in full swing with a hearse embellished with purple flowers outside the venue and a mysterious figure in a plastic Halloween mask brandishing a ‘the end is near sign’ sign on top of the venue’s building. Creeper are never a band to do things by halves and the queue’s buzz of excitement and conspiracy theories regarding the future of the band was exactly what you would expect from an average Creeper show.
As the curtain fell, the official band mascot Darcia (the vampire familiar took to the stage and in usual sarcastic fashion, told audience members to “keep the blood off the carpet and enjoy the show” before charismatic frontman William Von Ghould and his band of misfits took to the stage and opened their two-hour set with Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman-influenced epic ‘Further Than Forever’ and the energy was electric. The entire crowd was singing along and at one point in the show, Von Ghould remarks that “this is the loudest crowd we’ve ever played to” and surely their cult-like audience agrees.
Despite this show being a celebration and a farewell to the Sanguivore album, Creeper still showcased a few fan favourites such as ‘Ghosts Over Cavalry’ with pianist and secondary vocalist Hannah Hermione Greenwood on vocals, the dramatic duet ‘Midnight’ which had been retired from Creeper set lists since 2022, and lead single from horror-punk debut Eternity In Your Arms, ‘Suzanne’ (complete with original 2017 lyrics taken from Don McLean’s “American Pie” and an appearance from Save Face frontman Tyler Povanda) which was a welcome surprise for the audience and another showcase of things to come in the Creeperverse. This show was clearly a celebration of Creeper’s past as a punk rock and every genre in between band, and a look at their future as a more metal-adjacent group.
As the curtain fell, there was a buzz of confusion and surely many members of the audience were expecting the band to break up onstage David Bowie style as the band had done previously when headlining Koko in 2018 but instead, a mysterious video of Darcia turning on an old-school VHS player plays via projector. The crowd watches in horror as a fight breaks out between the mysterious figure later revealed as the Mistress of Death and practical horror effects come into play as Creeper’s frontman has his eye impaled by a wooden stake. The final frame of this distinguished short film shows the classic Sanguivore logo in gothic font as the words ‘Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death’ are spliced over the screen as the crowd goes wild.
Creeper have proved time and time again that changing your sound doesn’t necessarily mean losing your audience and their loyal devotees (often coined as the Creeper Cult) are clearly here for the chaos. With single ‘Headstones’ being released last Friday and Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death having a confirmed release date of Halloween this year, it’s an exciting year to be a Creeper fan.