Album Details

• Artist: El Creepo
• Album: El Creepo!
• Label: Rotten Records
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-11-25

Polkadot Cadaver singer/songwriter Todd Edward Smith goes solo here, and makes a statement right off the bat. As El Creepo, and with a record cover featuring a skull-exposed Flamenco guitarist, you know you are heading into a twisted and dark place, but one that might have both some humor and pathos.

Dreamlike, acoustic guitar driven murder ballads seems to be the focus here, though Smith (who plays all the instruments aside from John Ensminger's drumming) mixes things up a lot. "Easy Killer," and "The Art of Bullfighting," have a low menace, while "Hot Little Temper" is like OMD on ‘ludes. "Orange Peel Sunrise" has a zoot suit bounce, and the title track even gets a little abrasive and noisy. Cellist Jasan Stepp adds high lonesome haunting to "Bloody Mary." Suicide, death and pain seem to be the gist of the subject matter, and while there is enough lilt to prevent it from becoming morose, the music also eerily comes across as sincere, and therefore disturbing.

Grim and perverse as it is, there is also great humor in El Creepo. While Todd Edward Smith may not be someone you want to hang with if your behind in your bills, he still marks his harrowing territory with grace and groove.

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