Pentagram-First daze here, 2002

Here's a band from Northern Virginia that has gone through numerous line-ups, but still managed to release material in each of the last four decades. Vocalist Bobby Liebling is the only member who has been with every version of the band. They are also a huge influence on doom metal and stoner rock yet a lot of people may not know who they are. This is probably largely due to the fact that all of their releases have been on small labels. They formed around 1970, but their first lp wasn't released until 1985. They only released a few singles in the 1970's, but this album is a collection of some of their best songs from that decade. Most commonly compared to Black Sabbath due to the slow, often sluggish riffs, but the band always maintained that Blue Cheer was their biggest inspiration. Pentagram's guitarist claimed that they recorded whole or parts of over 100 songs between 1970 and 1976, but some were done on perhaps not the greatest equipment so not all of the songs have lasted over the years. The band has also re-recorded a lot of their songs over the years as they have done seven studio albums between 1985 and 2004 and each album contains at least a couple of their songs that were originally done in the 1970's. The dozen tracks here are some of the very the best that they have done in their career. The subtlety of their sound that really works well as it's oftentimes blended with some heavy riffs and off the cuff solos. At times there is almost a dreamy quality to the music as well. While listening to these songs it is difficult for me to believe that hese guys didn't get signed back then. Although they were apparently close to getting signed by Colombia records in 1975, but it fell through. Their songwriting is strong and the playing ability is definitely there as well. I highly recommend this release as a starting point for anyone wanting to familiarize yourself with this great band.