Heavy music titans Anatomy of Habit return to the forefront of Chicago’s underground scene with Paired Sentinels, their most accessible LP yet.
Release date: July 31, 2026 | Independent | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Website
Anatomy of Habit‘s sustained sonic chaos isn’t typically for the faint of heart. Forming in 2008, their past four albums have hardly ever featured a song shorter than seven minutes. Even more so, the ground they cover is an incredibly niche intersection where wall-of-sound shoegaze converges with classic industrial tones, all patrolled by doom metal stoplights. While their approach is mighty in its progressive grandeur, Anatomy of Habit are neither your meat-and-potatoes prog metal à la Dream Theater, nor are they quite as unrelenting as, say, Isis. This Mark Solotroff-fronted experience instead relies on the gradual building – and tearing down – of their compositions with drastic dynamic shifts and sudden bursts of noise.
Paired Sentinels is their fifth and latest studio outing, and according to Bandcamp, their third with the longest-running, five-piece line-up. At a grand total of four tracks (yes, four!), it is also their most easily digestible piece of work yet. Opener “Always Arriving” was my very first time listening to these local Chicago musicians, and I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction than this! Never mind the fact that Solotroff is a seasoned veteran of the underground industrial noise scene; this song places his mournful vocals, impressive lyrical vocabulary, and synthesized backings on full display. What really makes this song stand out, however, are the drums (provided by Skyler Rowe) and guitars (Alex Latus). There’s a tom-heavy beat at the beginning where a uniquely descending tom pattern evokes the feeling of scaffolding toppling over. That soon leads to the wreckage of hi-hats crashing loudly beneath a collapsing doom metal riff akin to Paradise Lost. It then ends with Solotroff yelling ‘CERTAINTY! CERTAINTY!‘ in an incrementally unsettled manner.
Next, I want you to imagine a world where reverb-soaked strums of gazed-out guitar melt in with drums moving at a glacial pace. Got it? Good. That’s what Anatomy of Habit call “Conditions of Freedom”, which is either my favorite or second-favorite track on this LP, depending on my mood. This tune is yet another instance of contrasting dynamics leading to something that’s truly bigger than the sum of its parts. Just when you think its Catherine Wheel-esque layers of both clean and distorted guitar are about to grind to a halt, you’re hit with a resounding wallop of thick, foreboding sludge. Credit must be given not just to Anatomy of Habit for unexpectedly nailing the Isis vibe with this portion of the song, but to returning recorder and mixer Sanford Parker and mastering engineer Collin Jordan for making it sound as sharp and refined as it should. If ever there was a soundtrack for Earth’s implosion, this would be it.
Side B of Paired Sentinels is all about the closing title track and, to a lesser extent, “The Importance of Risk”, which serves as the penultimate track. First, “The Importance of Risk” returns to the tom-heavy beats that populate “Always Arriving” and showcases Sam Wagster’s steadfast bass playing a bit more prominently than before. During the final minute, I can make out Isidro Reyes’ metallic percussion, twinkling away like windchimes in the middle of a humongous storm. The digital LP version (vinyl copies include two bonus instrumentals exclusive to the physical format) concludes with its title track, which starts out slower and more lugubrious than the record’s other three tracks. However, as with most post-punk and doom metal-inspired acts, there are frantic dynamic shifts and tempo fluctuations all across this high-stakes adventure of a song. ‘Ruin of ruins,’ Solotroff sings with great sorrow, ‘my greatest source of pain‘.
If Anatomy of Habit‘s Paired Sentinels already sounds like a lot to take in, just wait until you actually listen to it! Solotroff and his bandmates undeniably put a ton of effort into creating something that’s as much of their magnum opus as it is a gateway into their sonic architecture. As impressive as its four songs are instrumentally, they, along with some terse lyrics, are formidable enough to have the right emotional effect. I have no doubt that somewhat shortening the song lengths was a smart move as well, even if the album is still plenty long at 43 minutes. It’ll definitely appeal to those more casual listeners like myself and their fans alike. For those afficionados of heavy music among you who truly believe Everything Is Noise, check out this record and share the spirit of Chicago’s staggering DIY metal scene.
