“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.