The Smallest Creature
Magic Beans
(The smallest Creature)

The smallest Creature is a quartet from Lamaca, a spot in sunny Cyprus. Drawing from sources like U2, Pearl Jam, and even classic bands like Black Sabbath, on the band’s latest Magic Beans, we get the full complement of those influences, marinated in their unique fuzzed-out chemistry.

An echoey single-line guitar floats under vocalist Stefanos Marnerides’ vocal, opening the haunting opener “Would you Blink,” then the full band—Andreas Matheou on guitar (he sings here too and produced Magic Beans), Paylos Papadopoulos, playing bass, and drummer Iacovos Stylianides—cut in with over-driven force, as the song reaches its full drama.

The second tune in, “October Song,” presents an even more interesting cacophony. We get atmospheric metallic jabs, but the heavy stomp-of-a-plod beat is maintained throughout, and here one can clearly discern this band’s creative use of melody amongst the noise.

“Break Me” starts slow then gets pulled through usual The Smallest Creature attack. If I had any criticism about all that is the Smallest Creatures is that they rely on their heavy-hitting wall of sound a little too often for my tastes. I would have liked some among these 11 to have breathed and stayed quieter.

Noisy guitar riffs, bass growl, and a sly beat make up, what for me, is the best tune here, “Let Burn.” All the high-end guitar screaming and crunching makes for a wonderfully tight killer little epic. While, “The Mist,” ending Magic Beans, gives us a truly romantic read from Marnerides’ vocal and the band easing in sweetly behind him…until the inevitable bombast. Still, they do allow for enough guitar noodling.