While it is unknown exactly when or where Cretus formed, they began publicly spreading their message through music in 2014, with the group rapidly gaining strong support after their first show opening for legendary metal band, Down, in New Orleans. Cretus’s music is hard-hitting thrash metal at its core; mathematically-precise riffs, dive-bombing guitar solos, and thundering drums pummel the listener, but their compelling melodies and bizarre pop sensibility make each song from their forthcoming EP, DUX MEA LUX, subtly addictive. Down and Corrosion of Conformity guitarist Pepper Keenan says, “Cretus is a killer band with ripping guitar work and clear vocal hooks. For sure a future global outfit. They wear masks and slaughter virgins on stage, need I say more?”
Devout followers of Cretus pack into shows wearing the group’s signature black masks and cloaks, bobbing their heads in support as hypnotic lights pulse and dense fog surrounds them, becoming a raving heavy metal congregation unable and unwilling to escape the dark energy emanating from the speakers. Multi-sensory performance rituals such as sacrificial demonstrations and strange pagan rites add an even more ominous tone to the already frightening spectacle of the four masked figures destroying the stage. Heavily symbolic imagery, esoteric subject matter, and poetic lyrics give listeners something deeper to latch onto with Cretus, and Pavement Records is proud to be releasing their debut EP, DUX MEA LUX, worldwide on August 21, 2015.