Ten years beyond their last record and now in an almost entirely restaffed state this latest iteration of Washington D.C./Maryland borne heavy rock/doom metal quartet PENTAGRAM has the weight of nearly fifty years of history on its shoulders as a fresh start with heaps of ancient baggage in hand. As a new addition to the influential band’s discography ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ initially feels like new collaboration moreso than a nine album deep exploration of song but with the maestro himself up front and a grip of catchier, heavier songs in hand they’ve put together a memorable return which is characteristic of their legacy. It’d be fair to say ‘they don’t make them like they used‘ to in some sense but the timeless songcraft and charismatic personae behind this record go a long way to create the charming event that it is.

If you haven’t taken the time to detangle the legend of Bobby Liebling and his timeless, bluesy heavy rock delivered songbook that keeps on giving from the early 70’s (Stonebunny, Bedemon, Macabre) to the 80’s (Death Row) and up toward Pentagram‘s various phasing in and out of the light beyond then you’re missing out on one of very few artists willing to bear their own weirding soul within hard rock/heavy metal, not simply follow the pack. That is to say that the man is flawed and honest about it within his music, a feature that’d carried countless late 60’s/early 70’s penned songs over with their profundity intact even when fully realized ~3-4 decades later. Though the fellow’d been the bands only constant, their maniac man up front and a charismatic performer beyond most, a number of other performers and co-songwriters have helped to define each of the band’s eras such as the early days contributions from drummer Geof O’Keefe or the longer upheld (+ defining) partnerships with guitarist Victor Griffin and drummer Joe Hasselvander who’d powered underground breakthroughs (re: 80’s output) comebacks and comedowns (90’s ’til mid-2000’s) where the songs’d ultimately shine beyond any other antics. The personality of the band’ll be on fire anytime they get Liebling in gear, guaranteed, but for my own taste the success of any release depends on the whole of the group and their contributions. This ends up being a key thought as we step into ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ and consider the wholly new and very recently recruited line-up involved.

You couldn’t get me to listen to any Pentagram-related work beyond the mid-to-late 80’s duo of their self-titled 1985 record (which was a 1982 demo from Death Row) and the big one, ‘Day of Reckoning‘ (1987) until it’d hit me that every album from the group was a different type of collaboration, sourcing different songs from different timelines or circumstances to simply make it work. This’d struck me most squarely in the jaw in admiration of their comeback record, ‘Last Rites‘ circa 2011 which’d incorporated truly ancient songs written as early as 1971 alongside new ones, having some great appreciation for the return of those most key band members, Griffin in particular. Several years later, or, nine at the least since their previous LP we find the band signed to Italian behemoth Heavy Psych Sounds, getting at least three of their LPs (1999-2004) reissued/remastered, and bent on releasing new album ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ with guitarist/producer and man of many talents Tony Reed of Mos Generator at the helm alongside longtime Saint Vitus drummer Henry Vasquez and bassist Scooter Haslip. Are we getting a third and stoniest ‘comeback’ record from the band beyond their 2010’s output?

The expectation set upon announcement, at least on my part, was that Reed‘s most recent releases and his long-standing love of 70’s progressive rock would render ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ as decidedly different than the kinda easygoing, contemplative stoner/heavy rock muse found on ‘Curious Volume‘ (2015). There are some harder grooves and many different hard-and-soft tones piled onto this new album (re: “Thundercrest“) but the main point to make is that we’re getting some of the more dogged attitude found on their late 90’s/early 2000’s material here. If you’re still pining for that 80’s sound, however you see it in hindsight, this ain’t it entirely but the personality Pentagram‘ve carried over the course of fifty plus years is well and alive as we fire this thing up and jog into spirited opener “Live Again” where the Liebling charm, shedding the pains of deeper introspection with a smirk, is immediate and the fellow sounds lucid in action. The Jerry Lee Lewis/Little Richard feelin’ vibrato that hits around ~1:55 minutes into “In the Panic Room” quickly sells the energy of this album up front, feeling more like the manic hard rock history of the band has stepped somewhere nearby the stoney 90’s fuzzed retelling of the 1970’s hard rock ’til heavy metal uprising.

We’re not there yet, I mean the roughed-up rub of ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ is choice out the gates with the swagger of Pentagram in full swing already but the doom of it all does not fully descend until “I Spoke to Death” chimes in. While I’m getting more brain-worming lyrics than expected up front and falling deep into those first four or so songs what’d begin to hit me on the way toward “Lady Heroin” was a sense for a first impression being most important here ten years beyond the last release. Side A is packed with the majority of the big, infectious and immediate songs found on ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ where each song thrives within plenty of wailing leads and strong authorship, leaving the second half to sink or swim in its variety of forms and mulling moodiness. Of course “Thundercrest” bumps kinda hard and the gloom of “Spread Your Wings” feels like it’d been yanked from the desert rock-era of heavy rock with its fairly stock groove but the walk through Side B feels like it trades the cleverness, the charm of the artist for wordy and scattered narration. On the other hand this absolutely benefits the heavier than thou wring-out of the end as album closer “Walk the Sociopath” finally pours on the doom on its way out.

He’s still got it and they’ve done an exceptional job building that castle around him, more or less. — While I don’t feel the magick here song-over-song at the rate I did back in 2011 with ‘Last Rites‘ Pentagram‘s latest incarnation quickly prove themselves as essential providers of the soul within heavy rock and traditional doom metal. There is enough excitement here amidst these mostly ear-worming songs that I’d felt ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ captured the vitality of Liebling‘s still spirited personae and performance in earnest. If nothing else I’d almost have liked to hear Reed and co. make more of a dent in the action, spice up that second half using more of the group’s range, but that doesn’t stop it from being a worthy album; Otherwise I’ve no profound notes on the production values here, only that Reed has done well to give the record a dark (but not too dark) sheen when it counts, avoiding any idealistic rawness for the sake of allowing both the morbid gravitas and clever sentiment a wide open space to commiserate. It’ll be a fine trade off between the traditional doom metal fans need for the riff, their haunted narrator and the heavy rock n’ roll lifesblood that’d always driven Liebling‘s hand. Despite not having much to say about the musicianship here I’d at least offer that this record will survive in mind by way of its songs, the songcraft is what’d stuck with me most as I tapped in and out of ‘Lightning in a Bottle‘ and this’ll always be the legacy of their name. A high recommendation.

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