Where you grow up will, inevitably, influence you. Not what you do, but certainly where you choose to go. You can hear as much on Gem of the West, an album which puts to rights an origin. What we learn from our hometown are our likes and dislikes. Do we want to be isolated in the middle of a field or leaning into the beauty of cityscapes? The former, absolutely, is the right answer. You can hear that lash out against the latter, a turn against those who are chopping down nature and all its charms to make way for the low-quality new build life, on Gem of the West. Not as focused as that jab at the flimsily built houses across the United Kingdom, but certainly a shot against the ways of modern life and how futile much of it feels. Sentries offer a wailing, clunking piece of work documenting what we love and what we hate about where we come from.
Those grinding, clanging instrumentals on opener Code are a solid test of your headphones before the album begins. A little factory reset of the reliable Bose and Sentries are off, flying through with some exceptional, instrumental flourishes. Both the opening song and follow-up The Cowboy’s Carcass are delightful. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more capable adaptation of alternate rock charms than this. Everyone from Squid to Black Country, New Road is trying to create this shifting mood. Home comforts morphing into terrible realisations under the cover of night. Gem of the West is, as its title would suggest, a gem. A noise rock masterclass at times, and though it’s too inconsistent to haul itself toward perfection, it is better to hear the failed risks than successful repetition. Howls and cries across the album from Kim Elliot are an absolute treat.
Focus on the adrenaline-pumping style of I Can, and I Will, and you find yourself halfway to waking yourself up from the agonising, self-imposed decay of a day wasted. Gem of the West is a fantastic late-night listen. It’ll stir the soul and surround you with a collection of invariably fitting noises. Elliot’s wordplay is strong, too. Punchy percussion and feelings of desolation are at play. What we can do to break from that feeling is listen, feel the music, and react to its energy. Gem of the West is not just harsh noise and a long look in the mirror, though. Elliot can slow the tone, of sharing delicate, acoustic flourishes, as is the case for Red Eye Removal. A short and sharp piece like Dungeon Crawler may feel like an awkward transition between Red Eye Removal and Charmed Houses, but it does feature that homegrown appeal Sentries offers.
Gem of the West is an album of multitudes. It’ll rip your heart out and stomp over it if you let it. But it can also be a piece of tremendous comfort. Nails, the closing song, does not offer as harsh a feeling as its title would suggest. Post-punk affected tones are a constant, but Sentries brings out a brighter side, a sincerity which is often lacking in the alternative. Heavier, striking instrumentals are often a chance to unsettle us, to make us feel like the foundations are not as sturdy as they once were. Gem of the West is at once a strike to the mouth and a comforting arm around the shoulder. It’s an instrumental beast of an album, some of the moodiest, moving material you will hear this year. Gems of the West marks a triumphant third piece from Sentries, and it may be the peak of their powers.
