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SENNA’s
Stranger to Love:
When Life Feels Louder
at 2 am
(Album Review)

(12th May 2025)

Review by Sylwia Green

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Post-hardcore SENNA take a breath and look inward. Their full-length debut is a poignant, passionate exploration of the quiet chaos in all of us.

SENNA isn’t exactly your average scream-till-your-lungs-burst metalcore band. After a promising 2022 EP (A Moment of Quiet) and a few lineups and sonic shifts, the band finally delivers their debut LP, Stranger to Love, out via SharpTone Records on May 23, 2025. And while this album won’t dislocate your jaw with constant breakdowns, it might just break your heart in the best way.

It’s because SENNA isn’t afraid to feel.

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From Pit-Ready to Profound

Stranger to Love is what happens when a band known to hit hard learns how to hit deep. There’s a noticeable evolution from their earlier EP—which leaned more into heavy riffs and emotional outbursts—to a more nuanced and layered experience. You’ll still find grit and distortion here, but there’s also shimmer, soul, and some slow dancing with your feelings.

Thematically, the album draws from the band members’ personal anecdotes—unrequited love, moments of self-doubt, small conversations that haunt you for weeks. But instead of framing them as world-ending events, SENNA does something braver: they let them be normal. That’s the magic trick. These aren’t grand movie moments—they’re real.

And because they’re real, they hit even harder.

As guitarist Marcel Dürr puts it in his interview with Lambgoat, “They are not these once-in-a-lifetime experiences that change everything. They’re the kinds of experiences that happen quietly, in everyday moments.”

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Album Sound: Post-Hardcore, Polished with Pop Smarts

Let’s talk sound. This album is an emotional rollercoaster, but not the kind with sudden drops and scream-your-face-off loops. It’s more like a late-night drive through your old neighbourhood while your favorite sad song plays on repeat. You’ll get ghostly cleans, tightly controlled chaos, moments of near serenity, and explosive crescendos that feel like emotional release valves.

The standout track, “Rain,” is the poster child for this evolution. It tiptoes into your soul before erupting into a euphoric, groove-laced chorus. The guitars weave in and out like thoughts chasing each other in the middle of the night while bassist Fabian Cattarius and new drummer Viktor Warzecha lay down rhythms that are somehow both thunderous and tender. And, of course, Simon Masdjedi’s raw, aching, and beautifully human vocals hold it together like a heartbeat in freefall.

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That line “I feel satisfied when you’re by my side, it’s just you and me, when eyes lock, stars collide?” Yeah, if you’ve ever been so smitten it made your chest hurt, this track will ruin you in the best way.

“Polarised,” the closing track, circles back to their roots. It’s the heaviest on the record and sonically closest to “Rosehip,” making it the perfect full-circle moment for longtime fans. It’s like a love letter to their own beginning, now written with wiser hands.

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Final Thoughts: For the Feels, Not Just the Mosh Pit

Stranger to Love is for the midnight thinkers, the quiet feelers, the people who sit in their cars for five minutes after parking just to finish a song. It’s music that soundtracks those moments you never told anyone about—but maybe should have.

Fans of Holding Absence, Dead Lakes, or the softer side of BMTH will find a new favorite here. And if you’re already a SENNA fan? You’ll hear echoes of A Moment of Quiet but wrapped in richer, more reflective production. This isn’t just an album. It’s a mirror. One that’s sometimes foggy, sometimes cracked—but always honest.

✅ You may also like: Holding Absence, Bring Me the Horizon (post-2015), Dayseeker, Normandie, Dead Lakes

✅ My top tracks: Cliffhanger, Rain, Polarised, Hurricane

✅ Skip it if: You’re expecting heavy metal sounds.

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STRANGER TO LOVE
Tracklist

01. Hurricane
02. Rain
03. Blackout
04. High Note
05. Bodyguard
06. Drunk Dial Anthem
07. Potential
08. Breeze
09. Cliffhanger
10. NS:LC
11. Polarised (Feat: Our Mirage)

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Photo – Senna

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Follow SENNA

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AMNPLIFY – DB