Band: Sentience
From: London/Kent, UK
Their formation story:
(Anja, vocals): "It was 2019 and we were hardcore kids who wanted to start a vegan band. One thing led to another and Sentience was born. I initially started on bass then I moved to vocals. Sentience was a first band for most of us but our shared goal was to sound heavy and sing about animal and human liberation in a way that made sense to us (aka with compassion and without any egregious statements condemning anyone whose values don’t directly align with ours)."
Their sound in their own words:
"We’d describe our sound as chaotic and dissonant metalcore. We take influence from a broad range of bands. We of course love '90s and '00s metalcore like Misery Signals, Aftershock, On Broken Wings, etc., but we also love the almost overproduced sound of newer metal bands like Knocked Loose. We’re trying to strike a balance between both.
"It’s been a learning curve for me as I’ve never done vocals before and being a woman in a male-dominated music scene got me doubting my vocal ability. It’s hard to take inspiration from legends who are all male when I don’t at all have the same vocal range as them. I’ve slowly refined my vocal style with practice and as we’ve refined our overall sound. Our newest single is just a snippet of what’s to come."
Latest release info:
"Our newest single, ‘Sentience, to Suffer,’ is a marked departure from our earlier sound. We’re trying to channel early deathcore in our new stuff, think 2006-07 Despised Icon.
"The song is about how the suffering of many — animals and humans alike — is a core tenet of capitalism and it’s futile to direct our anger anywhere but up at those with wealth and power. Suffering is often met with indignation partly because of the rise of individualism and the view that suffering is some kind of character flaw. Except suffering is woven into the very fabric of capitalism. It’s 'by design.'"
Future plans:
"We’re nearly done writing our debut album. It’s been a long time coming but we’re glad we took time to refine our sound beforehand. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll still honour our hardcore roots, we just envision something a little different for ourselves.
"We’ve also got some great shows coming up which you can find over on our Instagram. Most notably, we’re supporting Undying at New Cross Inn, London, alongside Cauldron in November 21st. We also have aspirations to return to Europe soon (promoters, hit us up!) since we got such an insane response from our Paris set! Big up A World to Win Fest!"
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"We can’t not mention our emo project, Wears Me Out. I’m on bass and Matt, our guitarist, plays guitar in WMO too.
"Bands to check out… that’s a tough one because there are so many to mention. If you want metalcore checkout How Long You Been Driving, Bind, Higher Walls, Long Goodbye. For more hardcore adjacent bands, check out Low Life, King Street, Freeze, and Test of Patience."
Sentience on social media: Facebook | Instagram
