“Black Rain” starts this album off, and right off the bat we have Creeper sort of playing to their influences with some pianos right out of the book of Alkaline Trio. The opening speech here as well is sort of cheesy, not terrible, but I certainly feel like we move past THAT stage in Emo. I digress, because when that main riff comes ripping in Creeper don’t sound too bad at all. The riff have a little more energy than I’m used to hearing from Creeper. And while these vocals were clearly ripped kicking and screaming out of Davey Havok circa 2005, they actually come off really nicely. While Creeper aren’t exactly rewriting anything big as far as modern punk standards go, this really isn’t that bad. What Creeper lack in originality, they make up for with BIG personalities. And my God, can these guys ever write a gigantic hook that’s just memorable as hell. I feel like I’ve reached an age limit where this is a little weird to enjoy THIS much, but as a one time fan of early 2000’s mall-punk, I’m just eating this all up. And while I feel that 90% of anybody who would seriously enjoy this is wearing a Suicide Squad T-Shirt and has a chain on their wallet, I’m digging this. “Poisen Pens” is up next, and right off the bat you have to give Creeper credit for coming such a long way as far as shear heaviness goes. This has a little metal core influence for all of you Day To Remember fans. But I think what’s really going to set Creeper apart from their contemporaries is that songwriting. The verse are just fine and all, but these absolutely massive hooks that Creeper bring in are untouchable. “Poison Pens” ain’t really half bad, but then again this is coming from a dude whose hear picks up a bit whenever he heard that Set Your Goals are touring. It’s upbeat, and while it’s certainly over the top and clinging desperately to every modern punk stereotype, it’s still decent. Creeper continue to stick to the heavier side of things with “Suzanne”, at least as far as their sound is concerned. Vocalist Will Gould here whether he knows it or not is doing his best Matt Skiba impression, it’s a solid one though. Creeper continue in their lyrics to bring up horror elements and gothic imagery, which honestly acts as such a big plus for them. Then, once again, “Suzanne” has an absolutely GIGANTIC hook. I’m not saying this is going to be anyones “Album Of The Year”, but as far as the watered down, current state of pop punk goes, this really isn’t that bad at all. Up next, “Hiding With Boys” is a little smoother. Creeper continue to wear their influences pretty blatantly on their shoulder, which moving further I really can see being a huge issue. These huge hooks though seriously keep me interested in this album, probably way much more than I should be. Creeper however seriously need to change things up a little bit though. They honestly have a really solid foundation, but I can see a lot of these tracks getting stale quickly. While a lot of these tracks are armed with monstrous choruses, I need a little more at the end of the day. Plus, the repeated “LOVING YOU IS KILLING ME” line is so damn corny I can’t tell you enough. However, Will Gould counters that nicely with his actually cool, very goth like performance of “lay on your bed, lie to me”, right out of any classic goth band playbook. “Hiding With Boys” is GOOD, but Creeper need to get focused and not let their sound get out of whack really quickly, cause this could SO easily be completely unlistenable.
Remember when I said this could SO easily be unlistenable? Yea I should have bit my damn tongue. “Misery” is up next, and ohhhhhh boy this slower, more acoustic side of Creeper is not for me. Now, call me crazy, but is Will Gould going for his best Jesse Lacy impression here? If he is, trust me buddy it’s not flattering anyone. Moving on! While the first few tracks on this album sounded so fresh and interesting for the genre, I feel like “Misery” has every element in it that make modern punk so unbelievably boring. This one is just cheesy and ridiculous, and way too overly emotional. And while technically this one has just as big of a chorus, it really doesn’t stick with me nearly as much. “Down Below” is up next, and at the very least Creeper are back to a more upbeat sound. But c’mon seriously this literally sounds like something from Alkaline Trio’s “Crimson” or AFI’s “Sing The Sorrow”. I mean it’s certainly not BAD, but this just comes off seriously less original sounding. Creeper once again do make up for that with a whole lot of catchy songwriting however. It honestly makes “Down Below” fairly enjoyable. Once again, this certainly isn’t too bad, but two things I have to bring up. One, Creeper seriously need to work on making their material sound a little more original, and not like an Anberlin B-Side (oh c’mon I can’t be the only one who remembers them). Two, and most importantly, they need to stick to the heavier sound of that we got to hear earlier. I certainly get my wish on “Room 239”. We’re back to a heavier sound for sure, and instrumentally this is solid. But is it just me, or are the vocals and songwriting not nearly as catchy or enjoyable as earlier material here? The group vocals are OK at best, but even lyrically this one is just bland. More or less, “Room 309” is exactly what I was worried about. And up next, what do you know, we have another acoustic cut, and right off the bat I’m not feeling it at all. “Crickets” has Hannah Greenwood taking over vocal duties, and honestly as far as a ballad goes she sounds great. But man, I feel like as far as lyrics go this is rehashing every single cheesy line from the early 2000’s punk scene. There isn’t anything catchy, exciting, or even actually emotional for me to grab a hold of. “Crickets” isn’t good, at all.
“Darling” thankfully shows Creeper getting right back on track. Here, at least the band sound fairly confident, and the horror punk influence has never felt stronger. To be honest, it’s one of the strongest elements here. While this album seriously got dull for a while, Creeper are starting to rebound nicely. This still is really not that bad of an album at all, and if they expanded on some of these ideas I could see plenty of great stuff for these guys. “Winona Forever” on the other hand isn’t nearly as punchy and enjoyable. I do like how Creeper are sticking with the more upbeat material but this one just seems a little more disjointed, and even song structure-wise this one seems choppy. Once again there are certainly good elements to “Winona Forever”, but this one could have been better, hell even the chorus here barely holds up. Which leads me to the shockingly solid finale, “I Choose To Live”. Now when I heard these opening, very theatrical instrumentals I instantly started to worry. In cases like this, this could have been seriously awful or actually pretty darn good. THIS, comes off honestly pretty darn good. Nothing here comes off cheesy, this actually comes off really sweet in a sort of Gothy, “Nightmare Before Christmas” way. It sort of has a vibe of The World Inferno Friendship Society (who I might be their sole fan of, and that’s fine by me) with the whole over the top feel, but yea it works really nicely. This is mostly because here, Creeper find the perfect balance of paying tribute to their influences while not imitating them completely.
Rating : 7.4/10
Give A Listen To: “Black Rain”, “Poison Pen”, “Suzanne”, “Darling”
Overall Thoughts: Like I said earlier, I probably enjoyed this a whole lot more than I should have. While this may be blaring from every Hot Topic in America for the next year or so, as far as modern "Punk" standards go, this is probably the best thing going. The songwriting is sharp, and Creeper are keeping things more upbeat and heavy for the most part which is great for them. But the real treasure here comes in these gigantic choruses, Creeper can certainly write a hook. So yea, if they can maybe stop playing to imitate some of their obvious heroes, they could do something even bigger and better.
No comments:
Post a Comment