Live review: Creeper, London KOKO

Mentioning KOKO to longtime Creeper fans is enough to give them the spooks. The site of their infamous faked break-up in 2018 as they sent their Eternity In Your Arms era to the grave, the announcement of their return there already had the cult quaking. To make matters worse, as the fans – a huge number in Creeper merch – wait for the doors of the ornate Camden club to open, a mysterious masked figure stalks the lines, wearing a sandwich board reading ‘THE END IS NIGH’. Are we queuing for a funeral? Should we be afraid?

First, they get a moment to allay their fears. Creeper fans are an enthusiastic bunch, and luckily for openers Lowen, they have a large turnout even for 7pm. Prog-laden doom and goth-punk don't seem like a natural marriage on paper, but as soon as vocalist Nina Saeidi's jaw-dropping voice rebounds off KOKO's high walls – a capella, to start with – the crowd are instantly intrigued. The venue’s bass-heavy system sound gives their music a monstrous heft live and at times their drums sound like a stampede. They’re an awe-inspiring joy to watch, and even if the crowd may be unfamiliar (one punter is heard saying "I don’t know what type of music this is, but it’s amazing"), they certainly connect with the theatricality that they and the headliners share.

“Sit back, behave yourselves and try to keep the blood off the carpet,” Creeper’s familiar Darcia warns in her now staple (and always hilarious) opening monologue, littered with film-themed wisecracks – mostly Scooby Doo related. Is anyone here really out for blood, though? Mostly, they just want to sing. This intimate run-through of their most recent album has evidently attracted the most ardent members of their already deeply devoted fanbase, judging from the volume which with they join with the enchanting opener Further Than Forever. With his arms spread and his face glowing, vocalist William Von Ghould is soaking it all up – and how could he not? “I think you might be one of the loudest crowds we’ve ever played to,” he remarks.

Really, they’re giving Sanguivore – easily Creeper’s greatest body of work to date – exactly what it deserves. The band, tight, tuneful and as whimsical as ever, do too. The grandiose punk’n’roll of Sacred Blasphemy is an easy highlight, as is the charming yet moshworthy Chapel Gates and a beautifully emotive More Than Death that’s sung back as passionately as the always wondrous closer Misery. They chuck in some classics too, and while beloved live cuts Down Below and Annabelle take pride of place, they include some fresher choices from the rakish punk oldie Suzanne to a magnificent version of Midnight.

It's easy to lose yourself, but there’s never space to forget that something darker is afoot. “Who thinks this might be the last crowd we ever play to tonight?” jests Will. It’s a scary thought. In the end, with a sigh of relief, it becomes apparent we’re witnessing an ending that isn’t.

A woman in a leather outfit with a bag on her head walks on stage, and a curtain falls. We’re shown a film in which the same woman drives a stake through his eye, earning a collective “URGH!” from the crowd. It’s all to unveil Sanguivore’s forthcoming sequel, Mistress Of Death – and suddenly, Darcia’s earlier jokes about Scooby Doo’s many obscure sequels make sense.

Despite the teasing, could we really believe Creeper could be breaking up when they’re still having so much fun?

Read this next:

• Creeper’s William Von Ghould: “I think it’s the most incredible thing, to be an outsider"
• Black Veil Brides: “We’re really enjoying the fact that we’ve shared our adult lives together. And we continue to do it”
  
• Lowen: “It’s illegal to play metal in Iran. It’s illegal for women to sing. So this is defiance, it’s rebellion”