Label: Peaceville Records
Release year: 2015
Production: Travis Wyrick
Album length: 41.58 min
Genre: Doom Metal
Here’s the eighth studio album from the pioneers, the forefathers of doom metal, who are today regarded as the true kings of the underground in their genre, and of everything that counts as the gloomiest pose any (random) band can strike in rock’n’roll. Pentagram came back to life four years ago with the album »Last Rites«. Guitarist Victor Griffin returned to the band and the recording sessions back then, and the result was a superb comeback album that confirmed the Liebling – Griffin tandem is a prerequisite for Pentagram making good music. With that album, Pentagram finally plugged back into the first three cult-status albums, which are of course also defined by the fruitful chemistry of that duo bouncing off each other creatively.
The new album, »Curious Volume«, is actually a pleasant surprise for several reasons. Given Bobby Liebling’s “eternal floating”, which has dogged Pentagram throughout their career with an unfortunate unreliability (in the sense of being constantly active), plus Bobby’s love affair with “the white stuff” (supposedly he’s “clean” now, or so the official write-ups say, but our recent close encounters with the striking frontman unfortunately leave us with different feelings), it’s commendable that the partnership with Griffin held together long enough to record a new album. In the four years between the two albums, Pentagram have been busy touring. They visited Slovenia for the first time in mid-July 2013, playing the Metaldays festival, and last year, besides packed-out clubs, they were headliners in front of crowds of thousands at Psycho California festival, reaping a bagful of positive reactions for how convincing their live shows are. Luckily, all that energy from the stage made its way into the studio and is now captured on »Curious Volume«.
It sounds even more ferocious, committed and focused than its predecessor »Last RItes«, even though that one was a “triumphant return” to the old musical roads and was therefore a tougher test for Pentagram. »Curious Volume« is thus an upgrade on its predecessor, and as an album it delivers pretty much everything a fan of their cult material, written largely in the seventies, could wish for. Bobby Liebling remains a disillusioned, raging demon on vocals, with a howling vocal charisma, and he doses his delivery with just the right amount of annoying nasal whine, while his pose stays tightly horned. His piercing, unmistakable voice remains the trademark of the character and the band in the new era too, and Liebling hasn’t lost one iota of vocal charisma. Victor Griffin brings a fresh bagful of outstanding guitar phrases that could be dropped without much trouble onto any album by the bands he plays (or has played) in: Place of Skulls, Death Row, In Graved. And more. The devil only knows when these songs were written, since it’s well known that Pentagram created a huge amount of music before their debut that kept coming out for years afterward, and »Last Rites« was no exception there. Anyway, the guitar phrases in songs like the unmistakable album opener Lay Down and Die, the even more intense closer (Because I Made It), or the centerpiece of the album (the title track), and then inside the superbly (primordially authentic) working doom requiems The Tempter Push, Dead Bury Dead, Close the Casket and The Devil’s Playground, all bear Griffin’s undeniable songwriting touch. Fat, scuffed-up thundering guitars with a devastatingly stoned resonance, that necessarily bend away from semitone solutions in the riff rhetoric, grab you with the uncompromising aesthetic of the good old school of hammering out elemental riffs. Together with Liebling’s unbelievable vocal ferocity, the album as a whole really has no flaw, and so there’s nothing that could be criticized. You can’t miss the sharply ringing, hollow-rattling sound of Greg Turley’s thick bass lines either, or the furious drumming of newcomer Pete Campbell. The rhythm section works with a contrasting arrogance, and Pentagram as a whole sound with the dynamic organic quality we otherwise get at their gigs. The production is fat and damn alive.
For a long-lived band like Pentagram, »Curious Volume« is an excellent studio document that fans of classic Pentagram will welcome with open arms. Let’s hope the band keeps this energy going in the future and that the Griffin-Liebling partnership holds. Because that’s the only guarantee of real Pentagram music. When the sounds of »Curious Voiume« ring out, the best part is realizing that the band can still deliver an album with the charisma of thirty years ago. Immodestly put, it’s up there with the debut »Rellentless«.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
Track list:
1. Lay Down and Die
2. The Tempter Push
3. Dead Bury Dead
4. Earth Flight
5. Walk Alone
6. Curious Volume
7. Misunderstood
8. Close the Casket
9. Sufferin’
10. Devil’s Playground
11. Because I Made It
Lineup:
Bobby Liebling – vocals
Victor Griffin – guitar
Greg Turley – bass
Pete Campbell – drums
