Album Review: Seth Sentry - Strange New Past

To date, Seth Sentry has had two operative flaws. First, his persona on the mic is brutally straightforward, without style or nuance. Second, he refuses to change. So imagine the thrill when Seth Sentry confronts, and defeats, both flaws in the first few bars of album opener, How Are You! Sentry’s regimented flow, an eternal slave to his rhyme schemes and simple melodies, reaches immediately for heights he’s never even contemplated before. Thirty seconds into Strange New Past Sentry has decided to rewrite the future.

It’s not all rosy though. On Nobody Like Me he reels off some funny, engaging, Jurassic Park-flavoured raps. We’re listening. Then Thundamentals’ Tuka drops a guest verse and the spell is instantly broken. Tuka brings with him all the style and charisma Sentry lacks, and we remember what we’ve been missing too. Uneventful Run is a backward step. On Dumb, when we share Seth’s self-deprecatory moment, we learn our hero is not smarter than a sixth grader, and when we hear a forgettable pop rock hook, it feels like the past. Then, New Sentry steps up to the plate with some neat new flow tricks and the future again feels a little brighter.

It might sound odd for a man of Seth Sentry’s experience, but he remains a work in progress. His triumph is his commitment to making that progress while others around him stagnate. That’s artistry. That’s humility. That’s what an intelligent rapper should be striving for.