Dead Otter is back with ‘The Sentinel,’ an album that plunges deeper into the cosmic noise they’ve been cultivating since the ‘Pathfinder’ EP and ‘Bridge of Weird.’

This is the next chapter in the ongoing journey of their intrepid Otternaut, blending the heavy, churning riffs of Black Sabbath with the interstellar guitar jams of Steve Hillage.

Conceptually, the album centers on the menacing, planet-sized entity known as ‘The Sentinel,’ brilliantly brought to life on the cover by Luke Oram. It looms over the desert world where our poor Otternaut has crash-landed.

The odyssey kicks off with ‘Space Shadows,’ a sand-swept track that builds to a chaotic climax, featuring a bizarre “numbers station” radio transmission. A piece of unknown data left for the listener to decode. Next up is ‘Ezquerra,’ a nod to comic artist Carlos Ezquerra, which launches with a homemade sci-fi intro.

‘Ibises’ builds from a killer bass riff by Gav, eventually erupting into twin guitars weaving around an organ solo provided by Luigi Pasquini. The track ‘Fact or Fiction’ is a pure, live improvisation—a “made up tale” that the band experimented with using some cool dub techniques in the mix.

The title track, ‘The Sentinel,’ is the album’s climax. The song is the band’s take on Thin Lizzy meets desert-psych, perfectly capturing the moment the Otternaut stands before the colossal planetoid, probably wondering, “What in the name of fuck am I doing here?”

As a bonus blast-off, Dead Otter recorded a fun cover of Hawkwind’s ‘Assault & Battery,’ which is available only on the digital and CD versions due to vinyl length limits.

The band sends huge thanks to Melanie Dutton for her recording expertise, Dystopia Studio for the good times, and Riot Season Records and Echodelick for helping spread their sound across the musical cosmos.

Dive in and get weird.

<a href="https://dead-otter.bandcamp.com/album/the-sentinel">The Sentinel by Dead Otter</a>

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