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Brand new, sealed. 

SENTINEL BEAST Depths of Death LP BI-COLOR SPLATTER


High Roller Records, reissue 2023, white/ blue bi-color with red splatter vinyl, ltd 300, insert


SENTINEL BEAST - Depths of Death LP


Debbie Gunn - Vocals Mike Spencer - Bass Scott Awes - Drums Mark Koyasako - Guitars Barry Fischel - Guitars
01 Depths of Death 02 Mourir 03 Dogs of War 04 Corpse 05 Evil Is the Night 06 Sentinel Beast 07 Revenge 08 The Keeper 09 Phantom of the Opera (Iron Maiden cover)



Hailing from Sacramento, California, Sentinel Beast was originally conceived in late 1983 by Mike Spencer on bass, the unique Debbie Gunn on vocals and Scott Awes behind the drum kit. The two guitarists Barry Fischel and Mark Koyasako completed the line up.
Sentinel Beast first released an independent demo in early 1985. The band's anthem “Sentinel Beast“ was included on the “Metal Massacre VII“ compilation album.
“Depths of Hell“ was their first and only album. It captures the very heart and soul of Sentinel Beast – from the title track's expression of fear and submission to the re-recorded version of “Sentinel Beast“. The cover version of Iron Maiden's classic Paul Di'Anno era “Phantom of the Opera“ was another highlight of the record.
At the time “Depths of Hell“ was origianlly released (via Metal Blade in the US and Roadrunner in mainland Europe), the main songwriter and spokesman for Sentinel Beast Mike Spencer confessed: “We have all the energy of a Thrash Metal band but we don't really fit into that category. Our music, although it can be very fast and furious is more melodic and thought out. When I write I am very conscious of the melody and interplay between bass and the guitars. When we recorded Maiden's 'Phantom of the Opera' it came out at 5:45 minutes. Maiden's original album version was just over 7:00 minutes.“
Debbie Gunn's rauchous and very energetic voice was another strong feature of Sentinel Beast's sound.
Long out of print, High Roller Records is proud to make “Depths of Hell“ available again to a broader public on glorious vinyl.
Matthias Mader


They may be not the most known band from California, but these Sentinel Beast rule! Their speed/thrash metal is truly good. The period was excellent for such genre and the only error they did is to put out this album in a damned full year for the thrash metal releases. Unfortunately, they never received the attention they deserved from the audience but Roadrunner made the impossible with them and they saw right.
The power and the energy of this band are the one you could find only back in the 80s. I mean, listen to the title track and “Mourir”, and you are immediately caught and destroyed by the fast palm muting riffs, the raging but never screamed the vocals and the solos, the mighty guitars solos. Sheer pleasure for my ears. The tempo is intense and quite fast but the most important characteristic of this band is the pure vigour of their music; a music that flows perfectly.
Everything is perfect for the structures, the melodies, the solos and the vocals. The most violent parts are never forgotten to privilege the melodies and vice versa. These mixes are perfect and for example, check out the melodic beginning to “Corpse” to taste the real greatness of a band that passes easily from ballad structures to pure speed patterns. The solos are mostly in tremolo picking style but they are incredibly fluent and they reminded me the ones by old Flotsam & Jetsam.
The various guitars duets and the hidden melodies of the rhythmic riffage, so often on open chords, are perfect for those who are searching for a perfect blend of heaviness and sense of songwriting. “Evil is the Night” could easily beat most of the material that came out in that period. The tempo is fast and the drumming is relentless, especially if we talk about the bass drum. The dark atmospheres we can find in the whole album are something great and check out “Sentinel beast” for this. A song that sums up everything on this album: dark passages, speed restarts, vicious vocals and awesome guitars solo.
The mid paced riffs at the beginning of “Revenge” are very good but they are soon obliterated by the classic violent spirit of this band, so we pass easily from down tempo parts, where the bass is incredibly pounding, to impulsive restarts. The guitar solos are insane as always. “The keeper” is more power metal style (not the German one, please…) and more melodic with simpler structures and catchy lead lines for the guitars and the vocals, preparing us for the great cover of “The Phantom of The Opera”. Everything is perfect, really and it’s not an easy song. Not at all!
This one of the most overlooked albums ever and one of the greatest examples of underground thrash metal for U.S.A. Needless to say that it’s recommended to any thrasher out there. This band is all power, really. It’s the classic example of when technique, passion and intensity collide.