Review Summary: A bid for noise rock's torch.
Functionally I have always been an empiricist. I think people have to have experiences to rationally engage with in order to innovate or create; that is, our ideas cannot come ex nihilo and there is always an underlying framework of influence in all creative processes. I certainly see it in myself enough to question my ability to ever create anything truly of my own. Whether it’s as simple as my post-Cormac interest in conjunctions, or my more extreme personality retoolings when I encounter some cool older man who is different in a way I want to be, a part of me is always pretending. Still, it would be unfair to act as if the boundless vista of my anxious identity means that I am hopeless. I have been told that I am genuinely talented at some things – writing, public speaking, scholastics in general – but I don’t have a cognisant relationship with these talents. Instead, I find myself simply behaving as carelessly as ever, letting whatever may flow while my talents maintain the illusion that I am in any way in control of my creativity. Really, everything my mind creates is formed from the facsimile of everything I have ever consumed, hyper-focused by my pattern recognition to fit into any sundry context. How can I ever find peace in my creative endeavors if I am forever so intimately aware of how trapped I am in what I have experienced?
It was fortunate then that I went to the wishing well to toss a coin and wish for an answer. I didn’t get an answer, but I was tossed the sophomore LP by an up-and-coming Canadian noise rock band, SENTRIES, from the well’s murky depths. On a first listen, these 43 minutes of irreverent fuzz seemed far too reliant on the influences of The Jesus Lizard, Daughters, Rammstein, Chat Pile and IDLES to truly stand by itself, but repeated spins revealed an identity unique to
Snow as a Metaphor for Death lurking beneath the sing-yapped vocals, meaty bass, and slicing guitars. Lone member Kim Elliot’s keen ear is at the forefront of this lean tracklist: eight songs, almost all punchy, menacing, impatient and fun. In fact, I would argue that impatience is the defining characteristic of
Snow as a Metaphor for Death. Elliot knows what he likes and avoids pensive moments and slow songs for a hearty diet of raucous bangers. Everything from “How Many Fools Can I Kill” through “Force” is aggressive and immediate, effortlessly shapeshifting between various noise rock aesthetics (the former sounds like s/t era Daughters, while the latter steers closer to grindy IDLES*). Well, almost effortlessly. While a valiant attempt at an industrial techno banger, “Entity/Selector” is mostly just fine, but it runs a little too long and wallows in the genre’s repetitive tendencies a little too much. Otherwise, SENTRIES spend much of the tracklist in comfortable territory, garnishing their aesthetic with arcade beeping and whirring and occasional reverb abuse.
Until “Séance” whips
Snow as a Metaphor for Death violently left and descends into a noisy, ambient slow burn more akin to Swans and Sprain yet still driven by Elliot’s hatred of boring moments. As a creeping, expansive piece it serves well to disrupt the tracklist, but it most primarily sets the stage for the ferocious t/t, a barn-burning finale that capitalizes on all of SENTRIES strengths. A perfect compliment to the spectacular opener, “Performance Art”, “Snow as a Metaphor for Death” is suave and expansive, a living organism jailed in song and the culmination of SENTRIES identity, and, conveniently enough, the answer to my opening rhetorical question. Creative endeavors have never come from nowhere. In order to push beyond creative boundaries, an artist must first understand where they lie within their conversation. SENTRIES’ banger factory identity would, without the payoff of the t/t, place them pretty comfortably alongside other noise rock popcorn bands such as Crippling Alcoholism, early meth. and MSPAINT. Instead, SENTRIES demonstrate both mastery of modern noise rock tropes and the maturity to know how to bend these tropes into their own identity. Crank this album and keep your eye on SENTRIES,
Snow as a Metaphor for Death bleeds with potential.
