Pentagram – Curious Volume CD (Peaceville)
Does the devil always have the best tunes? Well Pentagram have added a certainty to this weighty comment. Sounding slicker than ever, and bolstered with great production ‘Curious Volume’ is the album Black Sabbath should have made. Bobby Liebling charismatically breathes life into these eleven tracks showing no signs of the washed up spectre revealed throughout the ‘Last Days Here’ documentary, in fact he delivers vocals comparison to a man half his age. Never being one for trends or fads the U.S. heavy metal/doom crew have aged and perfected their craft to such a level this record will rise as the genre’s classic of the year – dirty fuzzed up riffs, and solid rhythms form the soundtrack of this psyched-up stoner groove. Pentagram aren’t dull, they don’t drag out a drone of substandard doom, there is tempo within the songs and the likes of ‘The Tempter Push’ and ‘Earth Flight’ unquestionably pick up the pace; but fear not as ‘Dead Bury Dead’ pushes the Sabbath vibe further. Mark Freebase