Genre : Progressive metalcore, Djent, Mathcore
Released : October 22nd, 2021
Label : SharpTone Records
FFO : After the Burial, Reflections, Kadinja, Frontierer,
The Contortionist, Vildhjarta
I was completely unfamiliar with the New Jersey progressive metalcore band Sentinels but after seeing some solid praise for their newest album "Collapse By Design" floating around my social media feeds and being drawn in by the album art, I just had to dive in and discover yet another band.
And holy shit, this album contains pretty much everything I enjoy the most in progressive "core" music and does such an amazing job at spreading different styles throughout the record, knowing when to emphasize on one sound more than the other before turning the tables again on the next track, while simultaneously feeling like an organic patchwork of various influences that shape a cohesive ensemble.
Sentinels are able to combine a heavy progressive metalcore sound (think After the Burial) with the wild, dissonant and digital guitar experiments of mathcore bands like Car Bomb and Frontierer.
But then, when you think you've got the band's sound figured out, they pull out another card from their hand and hit you with some thall sounding riffs and background guitar ambiances on tracks like "Comfort in Familiar Pain" and "Albatross" which wouldn't feel out of place on a Vildhjarta project.
Add to that some contemporary progressive metal spacey atmospheres and soaring guitar work to contrast with the mathy dissonance, convulsive djenty rythms and chugs as well as both the power and melody of metalcore and the result is a kaleidoscope of modern progressive music that can be as energetically aggressive as it can be inspiringly beautiful.
It's not too hard to distinguish some of the influences behind the band's overall sound but the way in which they are able to combine all these different elements within their songwriting makes this melting pot of heavy goodness feel fresh and original rather than what could have been a compilation of copy-pasted riffs and ideas thrown at random in the wrong hands.
Varied, relentless and perfectly executed in terms of performances, writing and production, "Collapse By Design" is a must-hear for any fan of progressive "core" music and has rapidly shot its way up into some of my favourite releases before the close of the year.
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