Usually when you form a band, you tend to usually give information about your band members, the year you formed and the location in which you formed. But what if say you are a band who write songs in secret and then spring them onto the world without warning or even giving the listeners any info on where you're from or who your members are? Naturally they will become confused as they will not know anything about you. Should you let this worry you? Maybe yes and maybe no; but that all depends on you the listener. Does this apply to the band in this review? Let us see shall we? Oh and before I forget, their name is CRETUS.

Originally hailing from somewhere in the USA, it may not be known exactly when this trio of Thrash Metallers formed or got together, but 2014 was the year they first made their songs public knowledge to the world. Despite not being around for long, they have already garnered a good following for themselves and have a slightly odd fashion style wearing strange masks when performing and those who see their shows also do this as well. Does seem a bit weird doing that but I'm not really one to talk as I'm not very fashion conscious either so forget what I said as I'm here to review their debut EP "Dux Mea Lux".

Clocking in at around 26 minutes across five songs, the EP opens up with "Price of Immortality" and this tune in itself gives you a little flavor of what CRETUS are about. The melodies sound very heavy as is expected from the Thrash Metal genre as there is plenty of heavy guitar riffs and pounding drum beats to keep you happy while throwing those horns. Only real issue is the vocals which can sometimes seem a bit hit and miss throughout the song but for what it is, it's not too bad so I can't really complain that much as it does have some mild entertainment value to it which is always good I suppose.

Next up is the second track "Darkness Bites" and this one follows the same formula as the first track with regards to the heaviness of the guitar riffs and drumbeats with a little bit more emphasis on making it heavier and faster. I'm not so sure this is as good as the first track as it does have some redeeming qualities in the bits where there's just music but when the hit and miss vocals kick in, the melodies can sometimes feel a tiny bit messy and out of place. It's not really something to worry about as it doesn't happen that often so it's no big deal.

The next track "What I Will" has a bit more of a slower pace to it, but it still retains the usual heavy guitar riffs and pounding drumbeats here and there so that's good, but once again the vocals are a bit hit and miss for me personally, as they seem to either not sound like they're trying, or they're trying too hard to make themselves heard over the music.

The second to last song "The Leader" is probably the fastest song on this EP in terms of the guitar riffs and drumbeats, and you know it does sound quite good with the exception of the hit and miss vocals of course, but you shouldn't let that put you off from enjoying the fast paced heavy melodies.

The final track "Little Children" is the longest song on this EP and also the slowest as it sounds nice and relaxing at the start, but a little bit into the first third of the song, it kicks back to the usual heavy guitar riffs and drumming melodies from a Thrash Metal song, so needless to say this one is full or surprises but it somehow manages to sound enjoyable because of it. Only real issue once again is the vocals which are always going to sound hit and miss for me personally.

Now that I've had a chance to listen to this, I have to say I wasn't expecting it to sound the way I described it above. Why? For one thing it sounded quite good for a Thrash Metal release in terms of the guitar and drumming melodies as they did sound quite clear meaning that there was plenty of heaviness to enjoy, but, the only real downside was, you guessed it, the vocals.

I think the reason why the vocals were the only off putting aspect of this EP, is because they were either not trying hard enough with the performance, or they were trying to make themselves heard. I think the latter is most logical reason as they seemed to be buried underneath the guitars too much of the time but even if they weren't, the performance still would have sounded a bit off to me.

Bottom line, the debut EP from CRETUS isn't actually as bad as I thought it would be as not being a fan of Thrash Metal means I don't really know what to expect from the genre. With the exception of the hit and miss vocal performance, I actually enjoyed the melodies from the guitars and the drums as they sounded very heavy and very clear to me meaning there was plenty to enjoy but if the vocal performance were only a little bit better then this would have scored higher but it's still worth checking out if you're curious.