Pentagram United States

"The year is 2011 and the Devil is a-knocking on your door; you're in for a round of Satanic bongripping or more. Bobby Liebling may be squeaky clean these days, but Pentagram still deliver old school dark heavy rock with a touch of stoner atmosphere and references back to Sabbath in their early days.

From the slightly uptempo "Treat me Right" and "Call the Man" over the doom-ladden "American Dream", "Walk in the Blue Light", and "Nothing Left" to the melancholic dark ballads "8", "Everything's Turning to Night", and "Windmills and Chimes", the listener is treated to dirty, groovy and heavy heavy rock with an injection of doom and gloom. The guitar has a fat and dirty sound with a lit of 70s rock feel to it, and this suits the simple and primitive, but totally awesome and compelling, riffage perfectly. Pentagram show - once again - that they have found the perfect balance between rock 'n' roll and doom 'n' gloom on this album.

After decades of wear and tear, Liebling's voice has attained a raw quality which just means that his unique belting adds contributes even more to the rock 'n' roll authenticity of this release (but it also seems that he has acquired a couple of additional singing techniques, which he puts to good use).

"Last Rites" is a journey back in time to the day of early doom metal and should appeal to fans of Black Sabbath, Witchfinder General, St. Vitus and the like, but I think that Cathedral fans should also be interested in this album - and in Pentagram generally - given that Cathedral's sound is largely based on the Pentagram sound. Sludge fans might also like it - Pentagram are, in a way, one of the original sludge bands after all.

This is an instant doom 'n' roll classic!

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"

"Look around you. Where are you? In a graveyard at night. That's right. You can hear the howling wind in the nearby trees and the whispers of the souls of the dead. You are not alone. Sitting in front of you is Satan himself, passing you the bong.

Are you ready for another round of satanic bongripping? Because that's pretty much the sort of twisted atmosphere that this doom metal classic evokes with its full on Black Sabbath-esque (very Sabbath-esque) stoned doom metal.

After the uptempo, yet primitively dark title track, the aptly titled "Evil Seed" sneaks in on you, making effective use of the "Black Sabbath formula" with muffled doomy riffs in the verses interrupted by bursts of equally heavy but all out distorted riff sections (Candlemass have also made heavy use [pun intended] of this formula on their recent releases). "Broken Wows" is another Black Sabbath-inspired track, which makes awesome use of guitar harmonics in the main riff. More primitive and blues- derived, but no less doom-ladden, is "When the Screams Come" - which, nonetheless, contains some haunting guitar harmonics. With its 9 minutes "Burning Savior" is a more epic affair, which starts out with a dark clean-guitar intro before bursting into a series dark hard rock riffs, which build up to a sonic climax towards the middle, which is then broken down into a heavier and more doom-ladden section. The riffage may, to some listeners, be too primitive for such a long track, but the structure of the track is really what makes this a perfect epic doom metal track (and who says you can't have long songs with simple riffs anyway?). "Madman" is an uptempo track, and, while it is perhaps not the strongest track on the album, it is a welcome listen after the dense "Burning Savior" and the preceding doomy tracks. "Wartime" is another uptempo track, but a much stronger one than "Madman", because there are more things going on.

Pentagram are one of the most important, but also most underrated doom metal band of all time, carrying on the original style of metal created by Black Sabbath. The music is primitive and has a stoner atmosphere, but it is dark and doomy, and bloody awesome.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"

"Originally released in 1985 as "Pentagram" with a differently ordered tracklist, "Relentless" is a collection of old school doom metal, and it's f*cking damn awesome!

The songs are simple, dark and heavy. They may not be as slow as present-day doom metal, but they're still very heavy and have a sluggish punch to them; just check out "Death Row", "All Your Sins" (which sounds like something Cathedral listened to extensively in the early days of their career), "The Ghoul", "Sinister" (the epitome of really old school doom metal), "You're Lost, I'm Free", and the Led-Zeppelin-depressed-on-valium-like "20 Buck Spin". Other tracks are upbeat and even catchy, like the awesome "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)", Relentless, "Run My Cause" (which sounds like non-sloppy Hellhammer", "The Deist" and "Dying World" - these tracks are quite rocking, but they're still characterized by the dark atmosphere that pervades the entire album.

Unlike a lot of other 80s and 90s doom metal acts, who took a rather epic approach, there is more of a 70s feel to the music on this album (given that Pentagram were formed in 1971, a lot of the tracks were probably written in the 70s), and Pentagram have more in common with Black Sabbath, St. Vitus and Witchfinder General than with, say, Candlemass. Bobby Liebling has very much a 70s rock belter, and a lot of the riffage has a 70s groove to it. Actually, there is a bit of a stoner edge (an oxymoron, I know) to the music on this album. Unlike a lot of other do-called stoner doom bands (whose music is typically just 'stoner' and not very 'doom'), Pentagram manage to perfectly balance doom 'n' gloom with spliff 'n' zoot. A lot of stoner doom is just about bong-ripping, but Pentagram is more like bong-ripping with Satan in a haunted cemetery.

The lyrical content is also very dark, dealing with death, domination, werewolves, satanism, and a lot of other jolly things.

"Relentless" is recommended to fans of doom metal and stoner rock, because it's awesome. Oh, and you don't have to be high to enjoy it - I don't smoke weed, and I still think it's awesome music.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"

"Get ready for another night of satanic bongripping with the madman Bobby Liebling and his maniac minions.

Like on the previous releases, Pentagram blend traditional metal with doom metal and stoner rock on "Be Forewarned", which strikes me as being a bit more rock and a bit less doom than "Relentless" and "Day of Reckoning", but it also has a more brutal production which suits the primitive and dirty rock sound of this album.

The first two tracks are more on the stoner and groovy side of things, while the first really doom-ladden track is track number three "Ask No More", which is followed by the equally doom-ladden but slightly more uptempo "The World Will Love Again". This album also contains the Pentagram classic "Vampyre Love" which is a heavy, yet catchy and melodic heavy metal track with an awesome chorus riff and equally awesome verse riff. "Lifeblood" takes us from the land of catchy rock to the depths of gloomy doom metal with its heavy oppressive intro, and while the tempo gets faster, it still reeks of doom and gloom which is also the case of "Petrified". "Wolfsblood" elegantly combines groove and doomy heaviness and is actually a really cool track, which also applies to "Frustration" and "Bride of Evil" and the dark ballady title track, which also contain some vaguely blues-based parts.

This fine album is commended to fans of doom metal, stoner rock/metal and traditional metal, and should especially appeal to fans of Black Sabbath and Cathedral.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"