As a native English speaker, when I see the word "Cretan," I want to read it as a misspelling of the word "cretin." As in, someone who is a jerk or who lacks manners. That's not the meaning London's Balothizer intends, though. At least not entirely. While it is pronounced somewhat the same by English speakers, "Cretan" actually refers to someone from the Greek island of Crete. Now a Cretan can certainly be a cretin if they cut you off in traffic or refuse to hold the elevator door for you, but they're not necessarily synonymous, especially not when it comes to Balothizer. When they use the term, it is to literally tell you the type of music they are playing- a concussive mixture of Greek island folk and heavy metal- making their second LP, Cretan Smash, one of the most literal album titles I have ever encountered. They sound a little like Flotsam and Jetsam if they learned to play their instruments in open-air markets along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. They carry an almost Druidic air to their sense of melodicism which is cut with glistening curves of black-diamond-hued guitar work that prunes while it blinds with a flash of primeval theurgy. It's a powerful combination of inspirations that elevates one's sense of perception as if you have particularly ascended to the heavens- gloating in stasis above mountain tops, witnessing great these peaks crumble to dust, oceans recede and dry, and Kingdoms collapse into the anonymity of the epochs as passively as one might casually watch the passing of shadows throughout the day. Effortlessly transcendent and timeless, Cretan Smash will hit you like a bolder rolling off a cliff side with the force and flexibility of the cataracting crests of the sea.
