BLACK TABLE - Sentinel Review

In the gigantic Post-[fill in the blank] world, there's a lot of bands, and lesser possibilities everytime a new comer pop out. Plus, mixing so much genre, as Black Table do it, is a little bit risky in my opinion. But I have to admit, my mind just got blown out by the New York/New Jersey quartet.
Even though they qualifie themselves "Experimental Metal band" I stubbornly call what they play Post-Hardcore, I'm sorry in advance for that, there's no offense in this designation. In fact, there's is so much inspirations in these four tracks I can't really define what I'm listening, and this is the whole point of this demo for me.

So, overall, it's a really nice piece of work they put it out with this Sentinel demo. More or less twenty-five minutes of technical as atmospheric music, served with a lot of emotions by a monstrous instrumental part and an impressive Black Metal groaning. And the most important thing is that it never get boring or repetitive, neither too messy nor obnoxiously overplayed.

Heist, the first track, opens this record and there's a SHITLOAD of double bass drum roll. Not really in fact, but I don't know why I enjoy so much double bass drum roll and introducing a record this way is a heart winning for me, especially when it's played with these PELICAN/ISIS riffs. Moreover, there's this outro which gives a great depth to the song and prepare you for the next song.
And then brace yourself for this one. It's literraly a storm coming up your face. Black Metal riff/Post Hardcore emotion pit/Double bass drum roll all the way/Technical Death Metal bass solo (Yeah I mean it) and now you can breath. It's intense and it carry on this way all the track, mixed with these powerful lyrics, you just have to lay down and cry. You can also cry at these bass riffs which are discreet but so efficient. However I'm not really convinced by the stoner part and I felt like it was a filler, but maybe I'm mistaking.
Correct if it's wrong, but it seems To Tear Down is a song about religion and ironically, it sound like a Death Metal song (with the bass solo, indeed). Still interesting but nothing much to say since this one didn't moved me that much.
The demo end with 1942, on a more soft and emotional note than the rest of the tracks. Even though the song begin with this strange melodic riff, it's only followed by this solid Black Metal/Post-Hardcore mix the band play so well. It's like a flood of emotions until a brutal and unexpected ending, and nothing more to add.

Even though I was a little bit sceptic about this record at first, it was really surprising to hear something like that. with these four pieces, the quartet shown you can play Post-something and still bring new ideas without screwing it up. Listen to them even if you're not fan of the genre, you'll certainly find something for you.

Listen to Sentinel by Black Table here :
http://blacktable.bandcamp.com/album/sentinel

And buy it here :
http://monotonstudio.tictail.com/
http://monotonstudiorecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MONOTONSTUDIORECORDS


-Tieuma