Seminal Sentinel

There are a lot of underground bands that hail from Bloomington. One band that is quickly rising to the top in popularity is Sentinel, it's a metal band that is turning heads and slashing its way through town, consistently playing shows everywhere it can. \nSentinel was formed out of the ashes of a band called Section 8, which was a four-piece band for about two or three months. The band started by vocalist Zach Norris and guitarist Cody Burgess. They then picked up Jacob Benson on bass and Caleb Caudill on guitar. The group was finally completed by adding and Wilbur Price on drums. \nAll of the musicians are connected to IU in some way: some have graduated, some are part-time students and some are full-time students. \nThis has been the line-up for Sentinel for about a year now, and the band has played at almost every venue in Bloomington including Uncle Fester's, Rhino's All Age Music Club, The Bluebird and Second Story.\n"We've played at about every place in Bloomington that has a venue that's capable of sustaining what we're doing," Norris says. \nRhino's is a hot spot for Sentinel. \n"They've played here maybe four times now," says Brad Wilhelm, director of Rhino's. "They are a very good band with a lot of potential." \nSentinel has also played in Indianapolis at the Emerson Theater and all around the state. It has yet to play out of state, but it is definitely a plan of Sentinel's in the future. \nMusic has been a part of these guys' lives since they were young. Their collective experience ranges from five years to 19 years. The band Metallica has also played a major role in shaping the band that it is today. All the members of the band list Metallica as one of their main musical influences. \n"For me, like, I was playing football, and one day Enter Sandman came on," Norris says. "I was like this is really cool, and then I went out and got Megadeth and was like this is cooler."\n"A lot of Limp Bizkit," jokes Burgess, the guitarist. \nThe band also lists Pantera as an influence as well as more recent metal acts such as Tool, Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage.\nSentinel practice at a small music store on Kirkwood Avenue called Smith-Holden Music Company. \n The guys recently recorded an EP, a shorter version of a CD, in November. The EP was recorded in Price's basement using computer software with Dave Chale. A full-length CD is in the works, although the official date is still up in the air.\n"We kind of differ on our views of what we want to do, some of us want to wait to make a full-length till we're a little more established and also get looked at by a couple labels," Norris says. "Others of us want to do it as soon as possible. But we're definitely going to make a full-length album." \nThe group's live show is known to be brutal.\n"I did not hear about Sentinel 'til I saw a flyer for their show last week," says Nate Stubblefield, a fan of Sentinel. "I went to see them play Friday and it was great. I really enjoyed the lyrics and the instruments as well. It was really great music to thrash out to."\nAs for the future for Sentinel, it's definitely looking bright. \n"We want to get signed, go on the road, make a record," Burgess says. \n"Dominate," Norris adds. "Yeah, I wanna play. I want this to be a real job wherever we go. You know, we either make bands not want to play with us again or they make us not want to play with them, and people are diggin' it, so that's what I want to do. And we do that now."\nSentinel says its sound is a unique mix of metal with harsh and smooth vocals colliding, thundering drums and an onslaught of guitars. \n"I think with Sentinel, and every band's biased of themselves obviously, there's a large element of singularity to us," Norris says. "There really isn't another band like us in the mainstream. There may be a band in the underground that I don't know about, but when you get down to it, the mix of the vocals and the mix of the list that we play, nobody out there is in any way like us."\n"I guess the bottom line is that they are a great band and I do not see why they don't have a label yet," Stubblefield says.