Rating: 9.9

Country: USA

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Live Free & Burn
2. Too Late
3. Ask No More
4. The World Will Live Again
5. Vampyre Love
6. Life Blood
7. Wolf’s Blood
8. Frustration
9. Bride Of Evil
10. Nightmare Gown
11. Petrified
12. A Timeless Heart
13. Be Forewarned

Band Website: Pentagram

Pentagram - Be Forewarned (Reissue)

Bobby Liebling- Vocals
Victor Griffin- Guitars
Marty Swaney- Bass
Joe Hasselvander- Drums

This is the last of the Peaceville recordings for what many consider to be the QUINTESSENTIAL Pentagram lineup, and accordingly, is the final reissue in a series of STUNNING digipaks from Peaceville, who seem to be staying afloat purely on the basis of similarly-minded reissues from At The Gates, Darkthrone and My Dying Bride. For the most part, one can trace a linear progression from Liebling's ‘70s days with the likes of Death Row, Macabre and Bedemon through the first three Pentagram records, though admittedly there is a minute handful of ditties here that, true to Pentagram tradition, have featured on prior platters of Penta-genius. Still, this is a vastly different incarnation from the Stooges-meets-Blue-Cheer sludge-rawk of yore, and the Pentagram presented on this overlooked 1994 slab is a groovy, rhythmic, rocking, eight-legged HELLHOUND, and it will be quite obvious to most observers that this record showcases Pentagram at their most insistent and urgent, synthesizing the impenetrably ominous darkness of the first two Peaceville records with the vibrant spontaneity/energy of their '70s singles.

Of course, this isn't immediately apparent with “Live Free & Burn”, an oppressively minimalistic vacuum of grinding, acrid guitars, distant, clanging crash cymbal and THUNDEROUS double kick drums/tom rolls. The mix here is very Pentagram indeed, in that it resembles a swirling, apocalyptic vortex of bass-heavy, bowel-loosening sound, a cavernous, foreboding labyrinth that really coheres the desolation and desperation that Liebling is so preoccupied with. Fast forward to the GLORIOUS “Too Late”, and you'll get what I'm talking about- guitars blare and howl in the distance to Hasselvander's apocalyptic, funereal rhythms before both are brought to the forefront. Everything cascades into a crawling, lumbering plod of a riff, accented by single-note acoustic guitar and more GREAT rhythmic work by Hasselvander, all of this amounting to an introduction very much aligned with “Day Of Reckoning” in terms of atmosphere and nuance. Cue in a fucking fantastic, surging behemoth of a riff, one which rocks in very much the same sort of way as, say, Cathedral post-'Forest Of Equilibrium'. 2 and a half minute through, and the proceedings recede into an elaborate, beautifully-expressed trudge, all accented by Victor Griffin's typically fantastic, understated solo. Flawless fucking song, I say.

“Ask No More” is largely more of the same, laden with some curiously Ozzy “Oh yeah bay-behs” and some spectacularly haunting acoustic/guitar juxtaposition that, again, recalls the direction that Pentagram explored in the monumentally morose 'Day Of Reckoning'. 02:10 through, and there it is, another BRILLIANT dual-tracked Victor Griffin lead, once again displaying just why Pentagram are one of the finest bands in the history of music: everything done here is done for the sake of providing the song with more texture, of expanding the sonic palette of the record, of peppering the unrelentingly oppressive spite-and-fright with subtle shades of brilliance. Victor Griffin is very much one of my favorite guitarists, and Joe Hasselvander is very much one of my favorite drummers, as both of them work very much within the parameters of the song. Not a note is wasted, not a fill is misplaced, everything amplifies the fact that Pentagram's songwriting has from the very beginning been frighteningly close to immaculate.

“The World Will Love Again” is sort of Pentagram's “Into The Void”, painting a bleak picture of an apocalyptic earth plagued with greed, sloth, avarice and wickedness, one which will invariably be purged by the rapture. The riffing isn't quite as monumental as “Into The Void” (which is pretty much my favorite Sabbath song, and being that Sabbath is my favorite band of all time….), the subject matter is expressed in a somewhat more poetic/eloquent/unapologetically dark fashion, and the rhythms are absolutely HYPNOTIC, Hasselvander alternating thumping floor tom/kick drum patterns with more uptempo snare/hi-hat work to dynamic effect. Liebling's tambourine, of course, makes a great appearance here. “Vampyre Love”…ARGH! Superb, serpentine, intertwining twin-tracked guitar (rather reminiscent of The Obsessed's debut platter, in fact), horrifically macabre Griffin prose, a great hook, COWBELL AT THE 02:30 mark, a dark love song for the ages! Closer “Be Forewarned” is, of course, a phantasm resurrected from the early Pentagram days, and in many senses, can be best described as a Robert Johnson song as cohered through a Pentagram lens. There is all the excruciating longing, bitterness and doubt of the best Chicago/Mississippi blues, and the same bareness/frankness in musical approach, but indeed, what would a Pentagram song be without THAT unearthly plod, THAT guitar tone, THAT vocalist.

In order to refrain from a gush-on-gush, song-for-song analysis of this most brilliant album, I'd like to truncate this effusive piece of prose here by saying that while I'm not as big of a fan of this record as I am of 'Day of Reckoning', considering that record showcased the band at their most ambitious and despondent, this record does not lag far behind at all. In all honesty, comparing the two is like holding 'Master Of Reality' up to 'Paranoid', or 'Sabotage' to 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', there is NO drop in quality here, folks. This is perhaps the most dynamic, yet at the same time the most pedal-to-the-metal affair that has bore the Pentagram imprint to date (save for 'Show Em How', perhaps). This is a band at the height of their powers as far as arrangement and musicianship goes, a portrait of a four-piece that is clearly aware of their escalating prowess, and confidently flaunt said finesse, channeling it through a set of breathtakingly watertight compositions that hold up from first note to last. The three Peaceville records should be cornerstones in every heavy metal collection.

March 26th, 2006