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PENTAGRAM ‘Relentless’ Peaceville(2005)
The preparation of a review is, for us music journalists, one of the most important aspects of our "job". Making a decent review should always be the main objective, since, my fellow-colleagues and I have a great obligation towards both the record label which has entrusted us with their demo but most importantly to the people who have chosen to read and in many cases trust your opinion/judgement.
A good professional must leave behind all prejudice and personal preferences, and concentrate on what's being presented to him so as to come to a fair and reasonable position...you must be bored to death by now, yes? What I'm trying to say here is that, writing a review is not as easy as most of you like to think and the majority of today's releases can hardly make your life any easier...unless you have to make a review for an album like "Relentless", the re-released debut of the godfathers of Doom/Stoner or whatever else you want to call it, Metal, Pentagram.
I will start this review with a very simple and straight-forward comment: "Relentless" is one of the best albums ever recorded in the 80's - it's as simple as that! Ok, now that I got this off my chest, I might as well present you with the reasons that helped me make such a claim. Even though they had been musically active since 1971, the members of Pentagram managed to witness the release of their first album in 1985 - fifteen years later! NWOBHM had already brought major changes to the Heavy Metal scene and legends like Judas Priest, Saxon and Iron Maiden were leading the race.
Under these circumstances, would a band that quoted early Black Sabbath as their main influences, have any chance of achieving anything important in the newly-born and very competitive metal market?
In the case of Pentagram, the answer is yes. Using this huge gap between their formation and the release of “Pentagram”, better known as “Relentless” to their advantage, Liebling and Co based their music upon the standards of two different musical schools – that of the 70’s Hard Rock, and of the 80’s classic Heavy Metal, the combination of which is better presented in the band’s debut album. Even today, when I listen to this album for the “I cannot even begin to remember” time, I still cannot understand why people used to treat Pentagram as some sort of Black Sabbath clone. It is true that Tony Iommi’s band has been quite important for this quartet, but apart from a few songs like “All Your Sins”, “The Ghoul” and “You’re Lost I’m Free”, the rest of the compositions, eight in number, are quite different to what any other band had done up to that point.
This album kicks off with plenty of humour (I suggest that you read the lyrics while listening to the song) and a massive guitar riff, which will introduce you to “Death Row”. The sound is unbelievably dirty, Liebling’s voice quite colourful, and the first classic is born. I admit that I have quite often wondered how Black Sabbath would have sounded if they had Liebling as a frontman, instead of the mighty Ozzy...anyway.
Next in my list is “Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)”, which is to them what “Breaking the Law” is for Judas Priest. Once again we have the classic recipe: a simple, but very imposing guitar riff, dirty 70’s sound and Liebling’s voice which has managed to get every single hair on my body standing up for minutes. I know quite a few devoted Pentagram fans who were totally against the idea of re-naming the band’s first album to “Relentless”, but a few of them could argue the fact that this is one of the best, if not the absolute best song of the album.
If you think that all this band has to offer is hippy, mid-tempo guitar riffs and melodic vocal lines, better think again! The following compositions are equally interesting and well-prepared with songs like “Sinister” (this is what I mean when I say that sometimes Doom can sound as evil as Black Metal), “The Deist” (anyone remember bands like Diamond Head and Holocaust?) and the amazing “Dying World” with it’s flamboyant guitar riff. “Buck Spin” is the song that was wisely enough chosen by the band as the ending track of this forty-three minute release, since it combines all the different styles present on this release.
This is the second time that Peaceville records decided to re-issue this album, and believe me when I say that they have a pretty good reason for doing so. Next time that you feel like listening to the first Witchcraft album, or you are looking for the one band that is literally worshipped by the majority of the artists that belong on today’s Doom/Stoner scene, I suggest that you listen to “Relentless”. Come on, don’t be shy – go for it!
*****
Review by John Stefanis
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