Review Summary: At this point, Bobby’s well-being supersedes all musical endeavors
Pentagram’s emergence from the early 1970s Virginia music scene marks a crucial moment in American underground heavy music, one that continues to resonate in the genre’s genealogy. Widely recognized as a foundational doom act and plausibly the first American heavy metal band, Pentagram forged a sonic stance that would influence countless interpretations of heaviness. Their early work, alongside peers like Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General, contributed to a definitional first wave of doom metal that emphasized weight, atmosphere, and persistence of mood. The band’s trajectory, while intermittently fraught with internal turmoil and lineup shifts, is a testament to artistic perseverance and a stubborn commitment to a distinctive sonic pattern. This dynamic is evident across their discography, from the raw power of
Relentless to the more spacious articulations of
Day of Reckoning, and into the later re-considerations that reevaluated their legacy within the broader metal scene.
Be Forewarned, released in 1994, revealed a refined yet faithful continuation of their classic Sabbath-inspired DNA, balancing pioneering heft with a maturation of technique. Yet Pentagram’s career has never been a straightforward ascent. Political in its own backstage drama -drug dependencies, incarcerations, and revolving rosters- these elements tempered their commercial momentum while paradoxically fueling an enduring underground mystique. The band’s later material, culminating in their latest studio record
Lightning in a Bottle, prompts critical reflection on how a group can maintain essential identity even as external constraints reconfigure its capabilities. By 2025, one must ask how Pentagram’s essence survives and evolves when core members diverge or reassemble, and how these shifts reflect the band’s broader resilience.
What remains indisputable is Pentagram’s lasting imprint on heavy music: a lineage that continuously redefines what doom can be, not merely through riffs, but through a persistent attitude that invites listeners to explore the darker textures of sound. The enduring appeal lies not only in nostalgia for a recognizable lineage but in the perpetual curiosity about how a band can stay true to its core voice while negotiating the changing currents of time. In this light, Pentagram’s story is less a linear timeline than a living dialogue between legacy and reinvention, a dialogue that remains compelling to aficionados and new listeners alike.
Lightning in a Bottle, emerges as a compelling testament to heredity, transformation, and the enduring vitality of a band that has long occupied a central niche in the history of doom and hard rock. The album marks a deliberate reconfiguration: Bobby Liebling, the intrepid vocalist and existential fulcrum of Pentagram, assembles an entirely new cadre of musicians, effectively rebooting the group’s chemistry while harboring an intimate awareness of the band’s storied past. Tony Reed, renowned for his dual roles as guitarist and producer with Mos Generator, joins with Scooter Haslip on bass, and Henry Vazquez on drums, composing a quartet whose combined credentials -Saint Vitus, The Skull, Spirit Caravan, Sourvein- read like a who’s who of modern doom royalty. This assembly invites listeners to consider two salient questions: what does a “new” Pentagram sound like in 2025, and how does that sound honor the band’s 50-year arc?
From the outset,
Lightning in a Bottle demonstrates a flexible approach to its core identity. A superficial listening reveals a thorough assimilation of the canonical language that has defined the genre for half a century: a synthesis of 1960s and 1970s hard rock with the omnipresent doom that Sabbath helped crystallize. Yet the album does not merely reproduce a familiar template; it re-calibrates the spectrum toward retro rock influences that feel more direct and unvarnished. The result is a record that nods to Sabbath, Trouble, and The Obsessed while flirting with bluesy biker rock textures of the late 1960s and even evokes the grounded immediacy of Clutch at times. This blend underscores Pentagram’s enduring versatility: they retain their heavy, hypnotic grooves while embracing a wider tonal palette that accommodates both thunderous doom and melodic punch.
Critical to the experience is Reed’s stewardship as both guitarist and producer. His dual involvement ensures a coherent vision that respects Pentagram’s lineage while granting the album a fresh sonic vitality. The production itself serves the material well, balancing a raw, drum-forward immediacy with guitar tones characteristic of vintage metal - fuzzy, thick, and unafraid to bite. Liebling’s voice -aged and weathered by decades of trials- retains a compelling presence, confined, but not diminished, by the years. His performance, especially in the doubled vocal tracks, injects a psychedelic edge that complements the album’s heavier sections and more exploratory moments. While some transitions between sections in certain tracks may feel rough around the edges, this roughness often contributes to the album’s live energy, suggesting music born from performance as much as from studio craft.
Lyrically, the album remains deeply autobiographical, a characteristic that has long defined Liebling’s contribution to Pentagram. The songs traverse themes of struggle, resilience, and introspection, with
Lady Heroin standing out as a particularly stark meditation on dependency and its corrosive grip. Even when the material wanders into more expansive or psychedelic zones, the personal lens through which Liebling views his life and experiences provides a through-line that anchors the listener amid the album’s shifts in mood and tempo. It is this blend of personal confession and muscular guitar work that gives Lightning in a Bottle its emotional severity.
Pentagram’s 2025 lineup reinvigorates a venerable storied entity without surrendering its essential identity. The album affirms that the band’s legacy is not a fossil but a living, evolving conversation with its influences and its fans. It embraces doom, heavy metal, hard rock, blues rock, and psychedelic undercurrents, offering a catalog that feels both respectful of a half-century of history and boldly contemporary. Bobby Liebling remains the critical thread, a constant through decades of upheaval, whose commanding presence ensures that Pentagram’s music endures. If the true measure of a veteran act lies in their capacity to adapt while preserving core essence,
Lightning in a Bottle stands as a compelling testament to Pentagram’s resilience and relevance in the modern rock landscape.
In a nutshell, Bobby Liebling’s life reads like a furnace of trials, from band turmoil to arrests and addiction, yet his endurance defines Pentagram’s legacy. As the band nears fifty years, their history foregrounds his health as the true hinge of their future. Pentagram’s status in underground metal is secure, but I hope he continues creating music while moderating his pace to savor life’s gifts. May this album guide Pentagram to renewed acclaim, steering them away from perilous waters.
Recommended tracks:
Live Again
I Spoke to Death
Lady Heroin
I’ll Certainly See You in Hell
Thundercrest
Spread Your Wings
Walk the Sociopath
