Gothtober - Creeper : "Sanguivore"

 The intro to the opening song feels it's from Alice Cooper.'s "Dada" album which is a different shade of weird. However the song then veers off into something more like Meatloaf, when it comes to the melodrama that could have stepped out of a musical. Then "Cry to Heaven" is going for more of a Sisters of Mercy thing going on, but despite what his name might suggest, William Von Ghould's voice does not drop into as spooky enough baritone, despite his best attempts to try. The new Ville Vallo album certainly does this sort of thing better. They keep trying to blend the elements of late 90s goth with the more energetic theatrics of the rock that seems to be more ingrained in who they are. The results are a mixed bag. 

The odd uneven focus in the stylistic direction they are committed is felt most on "the Ballad of Spook and Mercy" which wants to be a Nick Cave like murder ballad, but rather than focus on this they veer off back into the more grandiose Meatloaf like bombast. However this diverse focus sometimes plays to their favor. "Lovers Led Astray" starts off wanting to be Danzig's "Mother" but ends up going in a more groovy rock direction. They are working toward a more traditional goth sound for "Teenage Sacrifice" but it veers off into a more Alice Cooper like arena rock. Which works for Alice, but he maintains a darker vibe to things. But the more Alice Cooper like moments are still better than what Ghost does. 

They speed things up into a more frantic death rock like punk with "Chapel Gates". If they are checking off a list of their influences AFI is added to that list here. "Black Heaven' is one of the album's best songs, as it doesn't try too hard and the songs comes to life from it's own shadows. Then the album closes with the melodramatic power ballad more than death, The guitarist of this band is skilled and they are all proficient at what they do. What they do is just not as dark as they think it is and certainly not dark enough for my personal tastes'. I will give this an 8, as they created the album they set out to create, it is influenced by goth and wants to be goth, so in that is where it falls a little flat. It drops October 13th on Spinefarm.