One of the greatest heroes of the underground movement that helped death metal grow and refine its sound, was this Chilenean band that started their career living through some of the most difficult times their country ever saw, under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet on the late 80’s.
Many have never heard of Pentagram, but bands such as Carcass, Napalm Death, At the Gates, Entombed and Dismember consider Pentagram a big influence, so that pretty much tells you exactly the kind of impact that this guys had on the metal world.
Pentagram sounds early Slayer but heavier, maybe they sound better than Slayer did on those early albums, just check out their cover of Raining Blood, simply awesome!!! They are fast, catchy, they have that thrash blast with all that death metal aggression they helped shape. They play all their songs in this live reunion album, they are all great but one thing comes to mind, they never really wrote a lot of songs, hardly 10 songs reach their career total, at least that amount they recorded in both their demos and a single, all three legendary pieces of collection, but it sure looks like they didn’t or couldn’t write more songs, making their spilt-up understandable.
Like I was saying this is a live album, and the sound is impeccable, the guitars are well tuned and the bass can be easily heard, perhaps the drums sound a little dirty but that just gives this a nicer retro effect.
The great theatrical sounds of the first song “Intro - Spell of the Pentagram” will capture and intrigue you as a massive block of metal is slap in your face with the first high speed riffs delivered with an authentic “feeling” that old school sound, delivered by the rough vocals and a outstanding bass will immediately get you inside Pentagram, now this song sounds very early thrash, all that speed and catchiness is unique.
In “The Malefice” you can hear Anton Reisenegger introduce the song, and then all hell breaks loose, the song is energetic, is contagious and shows why this band influenced some of the biggest names in death metal, every riff has something to say and provokes an almost involuntary headbang. The cover “Raining Blood” is just fantastic, as well as Venom’s “Countess Bathory”; Pentagram may be gone now but their legacy and influence will never leave us, buy this record and try to find the demos if you really are serious about your metal.
