Pentagram
First Daze Here Too

I believe that the relationship between rock (including metal) and evil, the kind theorized and feared by humanity, has, in most cases, been a constructed relationship. In the sense that I've always seen a need within (in the best cases, the worst ones don't deserve my attention), the duty to demonstrate something, the necessity to oppose the worst of society with the worst of its nightmares. I don't much like ideas that arise as a reaction; I've always preferred ideas that just emerge. Even better are attitudes, those DNA helixes that one casually finds within themselves and that one day will even mark the somatic traits of their personality. In a completely natural way.

The Pentagram, although I've never delved deep into their work, I have always considered them excellent musicians with something to say and to give. The genre they are known for practicing has kept me somewhat distant from their productions, but when I saw the cover of the double CD "First Daze Here Too," I instinctively decided on a blind purchase. Sepia photo of four long-haired guys walking around, no one looking at the camera, with a hard rockers' air and a latent esoteric atmosphere. Essentially, proto metallers (and I might overuse the term proto in this review) with a bit of hippie.

When I insert the first CD into the player, I realize, after a full and attentive listen, that the box could have remained closed. I felt a certain malevolent suggestion that I immediately rationalized. "It's a suggestion, period," I told myself. I listened again, and a chrysanthemum bouquet emerged, showcasing various impressions. Starting with the musical ones. To my great surprise, despite the cover having already led me to form a certain idea, these 22 tracks (among rarities and unreleased) recorded by Pentagram in the early 1970s, practically have nothing to do with doom metal. Contrary to what one might think, this is a hard rock collection. And of excellent quality too. I was told that the previous collection, First Daze Here, presented a selection of tracks heavily influenced by Black Sabbath. Here, however, the Sabbathian vein is not more prominent than those that channel the spirit reminiscent of bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Stooges. With a sense of heightened surprise (paraphrasing the present), I also discovered that Pentagram had surely listened to the Beatles (at least those from the White Album), Doors, and Rolling Stones, maintaining musical distance as needed. A melting pot of sounds (at times even psychedelic rhythms are present) interesting for the absolute historical value these songs express. It is clear that the dirty work in the studio by Bob Liebling and company should be considered a fundamental experimentation that contributed to the genesis of the metal genre, with no adjectives beforehand.

The sound shines with that magnificent 70s archetypal quality. All the instruments are weighty and sound good, aggressive and sharp. Liebling's shamanic voice leads dances that at the time must have been alternative, interpreting lyrics that speak clearly, without allusions or visions. But they target content specifically, between the theme of suffering and, in a sense, the praise of madness. A decidedly mature and bohemian songwriting, composed in that part of America that, with British pretentiousness, in this case, can be said to overlook Europe.

To sum up, after listening to the second and richer CD (only quantitatively, between the two I prefer the first) I can say that First Daze Here Too is a concentrate of 70s hard rock, damned and orgiastic. And here I return to the starting point. Pentagram's is a spontaneous and natural penchant for making music in which evil nests without needing to manifest it with allusive lyrics or a bloodstained and constructed presence by a makeup artist. I avoid a track-by-track, which would be crazy, but I mention the first of all "Wheel Of Fortune," harsh, misanthropic, and nihilistic rock, perfectly detached with precise calibration. It would be the perfect introduction to a group ritual four decades ago, which among drugs and hallucinations would lead to group sex. Without drugs, it remains an excellent example of how to make music that needs no grostesque and redundant scenic elements to achieve that estrangement and mystification effect that only what artistically possesses painting and poetry can have.

This collection is highly recommended. Objectively, it will not be the story of hard rock – we know well who wrote that – but it represents a qualifying aspect of world productions in the 70s.