SENTRY is three-quarters of the final line up of Manilla Road starting anew, and their debut album ‘Sentry’ is something quite unique, sounding like said band – a very well played and recorded True Epic Metal album – but with more experimentation. What’s not to like? After a few plays of this, in a way, each track seems inspired by different bands or themes from the heavy canon. Yes, the songs are all that different.
How to review it? Well, whilst we respect that this is a step forwards by the band members, we cannot pretend that this is True Epic Metal year zero either, and judgment will inevitably be set against their past work.
The first difference that hits you is that Bryan Patrick seems to have more space to do what he wants vocally. Sometimes he uses the space, sometimes not. On the excellent opening track Dark Matter, we are treated to strident sung passages. But then at other times, it’s back to the trademark delivery. Conversely, the backline of Neudi and Phil Ross has less space to jam, because mostly these tracks are more like songs, unlike the later MR which were of course songs, but songs with extended development passages of solos that could sometimes lead to periods of over-playing. Not in a bad way, they were perfect for MR, but none-the-less. Neudi in particular is reining in the off-beat stuff, and for the most part, doing what the songs need and saving technicality for fills. This is probably one of his best performances, in fact. And Phil Ross is a great bass player anyway.
Were you expecting a blast beat on this record? I wasn’t either, but the track Awakening starts off that way, and it’s a good track, even a little unhinged, and crazy. Probably the darkest track on the album, there’s a lot of energy and this is where real drums are crucial because the snare sounds great. Whilst this musical sudden turn might come as a surprise, if we stripped away their past, this could easily be a new band ( albeit of very talented musicians! ) still testing the waters to see what they want to play. One can only assume that Kalli Coldsmith is the element in the band that is the risk-taker here…his guitaring is very good, but the sound of the solos are very different all over this, almost to the point of it being a little distracting ( although playing live will even this out ), with Raven’s Night being the track where, for me, Sentry loses some songwriting momentum – even with some good vocals. However, the following track, Funeral, ( which I am guessing is written by Phil? ) closes Sentry on a poignant high. The CD apparently has a bonus Candlemass cover track, but we’re still waiting for it to arrive…
In summary, in making a record under these circumstances, these new, bold, tracks hold together as coherent because of that honesty of delivery that we all loved about MR. Hopefully, they’ll keep this going.
SENTRY is playing Keep it True this week, and I can’t see them doing anything less than nailing the epic vibe with tracks like Dark Matter, Heavensent, and Valkyrie. Playing the songs on Sentry live, of course, will be the best airing they can get.
We don’t normally give marks out of ten, but SENTRY’s debut is an 8.5.
Old Man's Mettle 