GutterPutter

SENTRIES, hailing from Alberta in Canada, have first broken through on Bandcamp where they have managed to foster a cult following. Their signature noise rock, first made apparent on their debut AGONIZER from last year, sets into motion their musical style for its dynamic composition and punk-like fervour. They receive little coverage from the music press to the closest being that at the time of writing, they are at the top of the search results if you want to check them out yourself with other bands with the same name. At first glance, it should come off as a surprise that the band have even managed to propel themselves despite having a limited social media presence and no attention from even underground publications. How did they manage to pull it off?

To tell you the reason, Snow as a Metaphor for Death is a nice fresh breath of air compared to many records of the same genre. Taking the more out-there cues from post-punk, the album feels like a deliberate attempt to diverge away from the apocalyptic nihilism that thrives in much of the music. The topic of death still remains which, on the likes of ‘How Many Fools Can I Kill Today?’ and ‘Witches’, have oftentimes been accompanied with sharp guitar notes, abrupt dissonances and key changes, and fierce feedback that adds to the overall texture of the album. With that being said, it remains implicit mostly with innuendos and figures of speeches to mask up the depictions of dying. 

Among one of the more unique parts of SENTRIES’ music here is the combination of dance music and industrial instrumentation or production. With the dance music-based standout in ‘Entity/Selector’, there remains some form of vibrancy over occult-like imagery that just so happens to be complimented by the Xiu Xiu-esque rhythmic beat. ‘Séancle’ builds on the synths that gradually becomes more and more bass-boosted as the crescendo grows in its volume. The no wave-like riffs that grow in the mixing process further adds to the existential anxiety that pervades in the song. Last but not least, ‘Performance Art’ kickstarts the whole album with an array of layers after layers of guitar to form an all-consuming thunder that flips off its shoegaze equivalent in their Wall of Sound-esque formation.

With these positive comments in mind, there are two weaker tracks that are decent in their execution, but have apparent problems that threw the rest of the album off of its uniqueness. Clocking at only 1 minute and 33 seconds, ‘Ding Ding Ding’ comes off more as a meandering attempt at highlighting the band’s hardcore punk influences rather than attempt to flip the script. The vocals feel too constricted in its attempt to show the emotions conveyed throughout the mania. On the other hand, the ferociousness of ‘Force’ pushes itself to its limit, almost to a fault. The constant shrill from the feedback feels too grating to elicit some kind of tension, the drumming feels tight but doesn’t come off as if it’s on the verge of blowing up at all, and the bridge just fails to come off as frantic. In other words, it sought to mimic insanity but it fell short of emitting genuine breakdown outside of the singing. It tries too hard with little nuance to provide.

Capping off the album is the title track which serves as the manifesto of what SENTRIES does best. At a whopping 13 minutes, it covers roughly a third of the album’s runtime with all the flexibilities shown in its structure. From the rattling, slow tempo that ponders on mortality with the funereal organ to the disintegrating distinction between the instruments as love blurs its boundary with death, romance is the implicit theme even as it shows its potential to end a life. Amidst the deafening cacophony, the line between moving on from a lost flame and witnessing a grave being lowered down feels nonexistent. “The tape runs out, cup flows over / Other shoe drops, her mouth agape,” goes the final cry to tragedy as finality flows through without any remorse. Such a finality comes with the entirely instrumental second half where, with the greater emphasis being placed on having the entire composition being based on post-rock, the guitar converges together with the drum to form a heartrending hailstorm. In a funny sort of way, it feels like some demented twist on Weezer’s ‘Only in Dreams’ where, rather than cap off the whole song and thus the record under one familiar motif through extravaganza, it abruptly cuts off. The remaining few minutes lingering from the distorting rings of the feedback.

Personally, Snow as a Metaphor for Death is not the perfect album nor is it even an especially great one for the two tracks that felt off compared to the others. Additionally, while the dynamism is apparent with the song structures, the vocal performance could use a bit more diversity owing to the more tamer themes and subject matters. SENTRIES is still the band worth taking seriously even with the points I have made. Rarely do you get a noise rock group that doesn’t fetishise our miseries and instead use its genre’s edginess to either accentuate the rough edges or, in one instance, highlight even relational problems. If you have the time or the curiosity, give this record a try. You might actually enjoy it more than you could imagine.

3.8/5