Pentagram Pentagram 1985 (Pentagram)
Doom Metal
Why are we not the chosen ones?
(Album cover is from the Relentless release 1993)
Verdict
When referring to pioneers of heavy metal, Virginia based band Pentagram surely qualify as one of these true pioneers of the genre. Formed way back in the early 1970s Pentagram with their classic Black Sabbath inspired doom sound, were of the same generation as other American metal bands of the 1970s like Sir Lord Baltimore and Bang, along with some of the bands that I've featured 'In the Shadow of Sabbath' section (see reviews) Unlike these bands though Pentagram never issued any albums throughout the 1970s, but what they did manage to do was to keep the band intact despite constant line-up and name changes throughout this turbulent period, whilst the former rival bands had mostly folded. The longevity of the band can quite simply be attributed to vocalist and principal songwriter Bobby Liebling who has been the constant mainstay of the band, much like what Dave Brock has meant to Hawkwind for example. The band finally released that long awaited debut album in 1985 with an eponymous Pentagram title that would later be changed to Relentless (for a future release) and the album is largely based on the band's 1982 demo All Our Sins under the name of Death Row the then name of the band. The strength of Pentagram as a band, is their ability to infuse an addictive listening edge into their material and the opening track on this album "Relentless" has that in spades and if you add in the Ozzy style vocals of Bobby Liebling and the fuzzy guitar tones the mix is a winner. Some tracks are extremely melodic like "Sign of the Wolf" which kind of avoids the typical doom trappings that ther genre would become known for and other tracks like "Dying World" really rock out. Despite some differences with the album material what all these songs do have in common though, is their ability to constantly lean on the doom meanderings of Black Sabbath throughout and are also enhanced with a solid fuzzy guitar sound. For all its accolades there are several noticeable negatives to the album and these are largely shaped around the fact that the bulk of he material comes from the 1970s and early 1980s, giving the album a dated sound by 1985 metal standards, making the album feel like something that came out half a decade earlier. Bobby Liebling despite being the life and soul of the outfit is not a great vocalist but he does manage to pull off an Ozzy saunter, and for me around his period he very much sounds like one of the weaker NWOBHM vocalists that graced a number of bands from that genre. In fact the Pentagram debut album would not be of place as one of the doom represenatives of the NWOBHM, as they have much in common with bands like Witchfinder General amongst others, than they do with the burgeoning doom metal sound of American bands like Trouble. Another low point for some are are the low-key production values of the album, but for me this underground feel actually does grab me as it should and it's probably the best thing about the whole album. Overall this album is seen as a cult classic by many and despite admiring some of its finer points the album has never really grabbed me as it should do. The Pentagram debut would come out around the time of the Saint Vitus debut and both bands would be seen as forming important pillars of the American doom metal movement.