Pentagram (American band)
| Pentagram | |
|---|---|
 Bobby Liebling from Pentagram, during a live performance |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Alexandria, Virginia , United States |
| Genre (s) | Doom metal , heavy metal |
| founding | 1971, 2008 |
| resolution | 2005 |
| Website | www.pentagramofficial.com |
| Founding members | |
| Bobby darling | |
| Geof O'Keefe (until 1976) | |
| Vince McAllister (until 1976) | |
| Steve Martin (1971) | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Bobby darling |
guitar |
Victor Griffin (since 2010) |
bass |
Greg Turley (since 2010) |
Drums |
Albert Born (since 2011) |
| former members | |
guitar |
John Jennings (1971) |
guitar |
Randy Palmer (1974-1975, 1988-1989) |
guitar |
Marty Iverson (1976, 1993-1996) |
guitar |
Richard Kueht (1978–1979) |
guitar |
Paul Trowbridge (1978-1979) |
guitar |
Victor Griffin (1980–1988, 1993–1996) |
guitar |
Teddy Feldman (1988-1989) |
bass |
Greg Mayne (1971-1976, 1988-1989) |
bass |
Martin Swaney (1978–1979, 1984–1988 , 1993–1995) |
bass |
Greg Turley (1995-1996) |
Drums |
Joe Hasselvander (1978–1979, 1984–1985, 1993–1996, 1999–2002) |
Drums |
Stuart Rose (1985-1987) |
Drums |
Gary Isom (1995-1996) |
Pentagram is an American doom metal band that was formed in 1971. The band is one of the oldest underground bands in heavy metal history .
history
prehistory
The history of Pentagram goes back to 1970, when Bobby Liebling joined the Washington, DC band Space Meat , which was then renamed Stone Bunny. Other members of the band were John Jennings (guitar), Greg Mayne (bass) and Geof O'Keefe (drums), all of whom later appeared on Pentagram. After a short time Liebling, whose hard vocals did not match the melodic material of Jennings, got out again. The other three musicians renamed themselves again in Space Meat, but broke up a short time later.
Foundation and influences
In the fall of 1971, Bobby Liebling (vocals), who was then a member of a group called Shades of Darkness, and Geof O'Keefe, now on guitar, got together again. Together with Vincent McAllister (bass) and Steve Martin (drums) the band was founded under the name Pentagram. As influences UFO , Uriah Heep , Sir Lord Baltimore , Blue Cheer , The Frost , Groundhogs and Stray called. The influences of Black Sabbath took hold only later.
After about a month, John Jennings also joined the band and gave them a second guitar voice. This led to changes in the line-up: Steve Martins' drum style, which was influenced by jazz, became unsuitable, and Goef O'Keefe took over. With this line-up it was possible to agree on a style, but John Jennings got out after a legendary rehearsal. For this reason Vincent McAllister switched to guitar and Greg Mayne, who was also part of Stone Bunny, now took over the bass. In this way, the actual classic Pentagram Original Line-Up was created, which is technically the fourth.
Not only the line-up, but also the choice of the band name did not take place with the first step. In 1972, shortly before the release of their first promo single Be Forewarned / Lazy Lady on Intermedia in the summer, the four renamed themselves Macabre in order not to be mistaken for Satanists . However, since the audience struggled to pronounce the name, further name changes to Virgin Death and Wicked Angel followed before returning to the original name Pentagram.
First phase: 1971–1976
Even before their first live performance on December 8 or 15, 1973 at the Montgomery Junior College in Maryland , the two independent 7 ″ Human Hurricans and the then unpublished When the Screams come were recorded. By that time, the influence of Black Sabbath had already become unmistakable.
In mid-1974 Randy Palmer joined as a second guitarist. As a result, there were several attempts to get a record deal after all. Pentagram was already well known in underground circles. There was talk with the record companies Columbia and Casablanca Records . Crucial for the failure of the contractual talks seems to be that Pentagram quarreled at the decisive meeting with Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman, the managers of Blue Öyster Cult , on April 29, 1975, as well as at that with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley von Kiss on December 1, 1975 were ill-prepared and late. But in 1975 Palmer got out and with it all commercial ambitions of the band dried up. On December 16, 1975, Bobby Liebling and his girlfriend were arrested by the police. Then the other band members sat down with their manager on December 30, 1975 and decided to leave the band. Since the rights to the Pentagram name belonged to Bobby Liebling, they could not continue under that band name. In the summer of 1976, however, they recruited Marty Iverson as a guitarist and decided to give Bobby Liebling another chance. However, at the end of the year the attempt was abandoned and Pentagram was disbanded in late 1976.
Second phase: 1978–1979
Just a year after the Pentagram split in mid-1978, Bobby Liebling began to deal with music again, inspired by drummer Joe Hasselvander. Together with Richard Kueht (guitar), Paul Trowbridge (guitar) and Martin Swaney (bass) they teamed up under the name Pentagram and in 1979 released the single Livin in a Ram's Head / When the Screams Come . Due to personal differences, the band broke up in the same year.
Intermediate phase: 1980–1983
Joe Hasselvander teamed up with Lee Abney (bass) and Victor Giffin (guitar) in 1980 to form the doom metal band Death Row . When Bobby Liebling took part in one of the band rehearsals, it was decided to use him as a singer. Lee Abney got out and was replaced by Martin Swaney, again bass. Under pressure from fans, Death Row finally renamed itself Pentagram in 1984.
Third phase: 1984–1988
In 1985 the time had finally come: after almost 15 years, Pentagram released their first album under the title Pentagram , which later became known as Relentless . Shortly before the recording, Joe Hasselvander had been replaced by Stuart Rose. Before the release, Pentagram went back to the studio to record the Day of Reckoning that followed in 1987 . Due to poor label support and money problems, the band broke up again in 1988.
Fourth phase: 1989–1990
For a brief interim phase, Bobby Liebling established a new Pentagram line-up, consisting of Randy Palmer (guitar), Teddy Feldman (guitar) and Greg Mayne (bass), which, however, did not record.
Fifth phase: 1993-1996
Due to the interest of Peaceville Records in 1990 to sign the band and re-release the first two records, some former members decided to try again. The line-up was now: Victor Griffin (guitar), Martin Iverson (guitar), Martin Swaney (bass), Joe Hasselvander (drums). In March 1993 Day of Reconing / Relentless was released as a 7 ″, in August Day of Reconing followed as a long player. In 1994, Be Forewarned was released . The band stayed with this line-up until 1996, when Joe Hasselwander, who had already joined Raven before 1993 and helped Cathedral out as a tour drummer, left the band. Martin Swaney also ended his engagement, but withdrew completely from the music business. They were replaced by Gary Isom on drums and Greg Turley on bass. However, the band broke up after a few more concerts due to drug problems.
1998 Human Hurricane came out on the Canadian label Downtime Recordings . The album contains old and partly unreleased tracks, but was limited to 1000 pieces and of poor sound quality.
Sixth phase: 1999-2003
Some time later, Bobby Liebling and Joe Hasselvander began again to get involved with Pentagram - but now only in pairs. Hasselvander wrote most of the material and single-handedly recorded all of the instruments. The record was released in 1999 under the title Review your Choices on Black Widow Records. The successor Sub-Basement was created in December 2001 under the same line-up .
Relapse Records released First Daze Here - The Vintage Collection in 2002 with pieces from the 1970s that are no longer available and some of which are unreleased. These were remastered by Bobby Liebling and fitted with new guitars. In 2006 the second part of this collection First Daze Here Too was published . Another collection of older pieces is Turn to Stone , released in 2002, and the unauthorized Human Hurricane from 1998.
After Sub-Basement was released , Joe Hasselvander and Bobby Liebling split again.
Seventh phase: 2004-2008
For this reason, the album Show 'em How was released in 2004, again with a completely new line-up. Bobby Liebling found support this time in Kelly Carmichael (guitar), Adam Heinzmann (bass) and Mike Smail (drums), all of them Internal Void .
Due to the behavior of Bobby Liebling, a concert in London was canceled in 2005.
Eighth phase: 2008-2010
In 2008 the band announced a new line-up, under which further concerts and a full European tour were announced a year later: Bobby Liebling (vocals), Russ Strahan (guitar), Gary Isom (drums) and Mark Ammen (bass ). After a gig at Hellfest in France was canceled, Pentagram made their German and at the same time European debut at Hell's Pleasure Metalfest on July 18th, 2009. Further club gigs in Europe together with Trouble were also successfully completed.
Ninth phase: 2010 – today
Russ Strahan (guitar) and Mark Ammen (bass) left and were replaced by veterans Victor Griffin and Greg Turley on guitar and bass, respectively, guitarist Matt Goldboroughund since May 2013. At the following gigs the DVD "When The Screams Come" was produced. Gary Isom also left the band, only to be replaced by Tim Tomaselli (with this line-up the album was recorded for the band's fortieth anniversary, "Last Rites") and shortly afterwards by Albert Born.
During the tour for this album, a live recording was made in Finland as "Live Rites".
In June 2012, the Pentagram concert in Building 9 in Cologne was filmed for the WDR broadcast Rockpalast , broadcast as a live stream and later also broadcast on TV.
Discography
Albums
- Pentagram (Pentagram Records / Dutch East India Trading, 1985) re-released as Relentless (Peaceville Records, 1993, 1995, 2005)
- Day of Reckoning (Napalm Records / Dutch East India Trading, 1987) re-released (Peaceville Records, 1993, 1995)
- Be Forewarned (Peaceville Records, 1994)
- Review Your Choices (Black Widow, 1999)
- Sub-Basement (Black Widow, 2001)
- A Keg Full of Dynamite (live '78) (Black Widow, 2003)
- Show 'em How (Black Widow, 2004)
- Last Rites (Metal Blade, 2011)
- Curious Volume (Peaceville Records, 2015)
Singles
- Be Forewarned / Lazy Lady under the name Macabre (Intermedia Prod., 1972)
- Hurricane / Earth Flight (Boffo Socko Records, 1973)
- Under My Thumb / When the Screams Come (Gemini Records, 1973)
- Livin 'in a Ram's Head / When the Screams Come (High Voltage Records, 1979)
- Relentless / Day of Reckoning (Peaceville Records, 1993)
Compilations
- Human Hurricane (Downtime Recordings, 1998)
- First Daze Here - The Vintage Collection (Relapse, 2001)
- Turn To Stone (Peaceville, 2002)
- First Daze Here Too (Relapse, 2006)
- If The Winds Would Change ( High Roller Records , 2011)
DVD
- When The Screams Come (Metal Blade, 2011)
- Last Days Here (documentary about the band's history and Bobby Liebling, 2011)
swell
The article is based on information from the English Wikipedia article and the biographies at All Music Guide and Relapse Records as well as the Encyclopedia Metallum .
Web links
- Pentagram at Allmusic (English)
- Pentagram at Relapse Records