Chicago's ANATOMY OF HABIT have premiered "Paired Sentinels," the title track from their upcoming album, exclusively at Decibel Magazine. The record arrives July 31.
Vocalist and analog synth player Mark Solotroff described the writing process behind the title track as an examination of connection curdling into burden. "Writing the title track, 'Paired Sentinels,' felt like examining the exact space where a profound connection turns into a heavy, isolating weight," Solotroff said. "The song deals with the fragile dynamics of mutual observation; two entities standing guard over a relationship or a creative obsession, trying to maintain the smooth surface while the foundation is splintering." He added that the song traces "that tipping point where your identity begins to fracture and a shared bond quietly transitions into a fantasy of escape," calling it "a look at the wreckage left behind when the things that originally elevated you become your greatest source of pain."
Decibel described the track as "a doomy, gothic dirge that feels almost meditational," noting that "Solotroff's resonant, baritone vocals are hypnotic over the slow-morphing composition, a sound that seems to reference JOY DIVISION, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, and early DEATH CULT. It's dark, cold, and gloomy."
Stream "Paired Sentinels" here.
Since forming in 2008, ANATOMY OF HABIT has carved out a singular space at the intersection of post-punk, doom metal, early industrial, noise-rock and shoegaze, an approach critics have consistently described as immersive, genre-resistant and emotionally exacting. "Paired Sentinels" follows 2021's "Even If It Takes A Lifetime" and 2023's "Black Openings," standing as the culmination of what the band calls its most prolific and unified period to date.
Written by Solotroff, guitarist Alex Latus, metal percussionist Isidro Reyes, drummer Skyler Rowe and bassist/lap steel player Sam Wagster, the four-track album explores repetition, memory, identity and the unstable structures that shape longing and loss, with Solotroff's lyrics moving between stark observation and internal monologue. The record was recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker — the band's fourth collaboration with the producer — and mastered by Collin Jordan, giving "Paired Sentinels" the sonic clarity and weight the band has built its most focused era around.