Sentries have put their first album up in full, two days before Amor Fati Productions releases Disciples of Void & Fire on 4 November.
The band are four people from Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway, and the list of what they already play in is longer than the band itself: Taubrą, Ilhalung, Oerheks, Silver Knife, Häxenzijrkell, Woudgilde, Quaet Gespuys and Deadspeak. RH sings, HC plays guitar and bass, DV plays guitar and ambience, MDK drums.
Six tracks, just over forty one minutes, written as chapters of one thing rather than as separate songs. Speed and melody carry it, with the atmosphere deliberately abrasive underneath, which is the Low Countries end of black metal rather than the Norwegian one despite the passport in the line-up.
Streaming a whole record before the physical release is a small bet. Nobody buys a vinyl LP of something they have not heard twice, and a band with no history has nothing to lose by letting people hear it first.
Dying Stars and Skies Ablaze came out ahead of the stream.