Bump in the Night

I must admit that I was a bit worried when I saw the artwork of Creepwork’s debut extended play. It features metalhead zombies and the one wearing a kutte even has a Machine Head patch (uh oh!) but I was pleasantly surprised. Their artwork for the followup single seemed a better representation of their genre with its spooky vampiric castle but I can’t fault them too much for wanting to be cheesy and it certainly is an eye catcher.

Not too dissimilar in their stylistic approach to bands like Denial of God, Devil Master or even Deceased and Ghost, Creepshow plays a blackened sort of thrash metal with its horror themes pushed to the limits of what I’d call good taste. It’s played purposefully big but they have the songwriting chops to back up their spooky intentions. The use of keys is prevalent and they act as a main instrument often, the title track is a good example of how well it’s used as it unleashes a keyboard solo! The introduction to the album almost reminds me of Cradle of Filth in the way it’s mixing piano and heavy riffs. They keep their songs short and dynamic, packed with fun, fast riffs and the piercing vocals of Uncle Death (Uncle Acid’s estranged, necromancer brother) are the highlight for me. Like the guitars and riffs, the vocals alternate between black and thrash metal at certain moments. “Moshferatu” is obviously a mid paced, bouncy thrashier number with quasi neoclassical intertwined solos while “Boogeyman” sort of reminds me of Immortal at their thrashiest. Pretty varied overall but compact and punchy. It’s not reinventing the wheel not aiming to do it but it’s done with care. I’d be interested to see what the band can do with 35-40 minutes and perhaps 1 or 2 longer songs as this was pretty groovy.