Desert Storm - Sentinels

When Sentinels dropped on 16 March 2018 via APF Records, Desert Storm stepped boldly into the locus where stoner groove, sludge weight, and modern metallic ambition intersect. It was their fourth full-length and first in four years; a record that felt both like a reckoning and a coming-of-age.

The album opens with Journey’s End, which rips the listener in immediately: heavy, groovy riffs, raw vocals, atmosphere thickened by a blues-tinged undertow. It sets the stage for what follows — tracks like Too Far Gone, The Brawl and Convulsion stretch between crushing heaviness and swaggering rock moments, while Kingdom of Horns and Drifter give breathing room, weaving mysterious mood and melodic nuance into the dirt.

Production on Sentinels is sharper, more confident than on previous outings. Recorded at Animal Farm Studios and Flesh & Bone Studios (with one track done at Woodworm), mixed and mastered to bring out both the breadth and the bite of the arrangements, the sound is massive without being overblown. There’s clarity in the guitars, heft in the drums and bass, and enough space in the mix for vocals to cut through variably — from gravel-growl to cleaner passages.

Lyrically and thematically, Sentinels feels weathered: there’s a sense of struggle, of being pushed to extremes but still standing. It doesn’t shy away from weight — emotional, sonic — and yet it balances that heaviness with groove, with those moments that make you nod, raise a fist, catch breath before diving back in.

Sentinels isn’t about reinventing the wheel — it’s about making that wheel roll harder, faster, further. For Desert Storm, this album felt like a defining statement: a band owning their evolution, refining their sound, and striking a powerful chord in the UK stoner/sludge landscape.

Side One:
A1 - Journey's End
A2 - Kingdom of Horms
A3 - Gearhead
A4 - Capsized

Side Two:
B1 - Too Far Gone
B2 - The Brawl
B3 - Drifter
B4 - The Extrovert
B5 - Convulsion

Matt Ryan - Vocals
Chris White - Guitar
Ryan Cole - Guitar
Chris Benoist - Bass
Elliot Cole - Drums

Recorded at Animal Farm Studios & Flesh & Bone Studios, London by James Dodd - except for "Journey's End" recorded by Steve 'Geezer' Watkins at Woodworm Studios, Oxfordshire.

Mastered by Tim Turan of Turan Audio.

Illustration by Mattias Frisk. Album sleeve designed by Chris Benoist.

All music written by Desert Storm.

All lyrics written by Matt Ryan.