Arlington, VA · doom metal

Pentagram

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Proto-doom lifers whose long-delayed recognition arrived decades after the riffs did — still summoning the '70s dark.

Pentagram formed in the Washington, D.C. area in 1971 when vocalist Bobby Liebling and guitarist Geof O'Keefe left earlier groups to chase the heavy rock sound they heard developing around them. The band cycled through names including Macabre, Virgin Death and Wicked Angel before settling permanently on Pentagram, chosen by Liebling to suit the dark tone of the material.

Liebling has always described Pentagram as a 'heavy hard rock' band rather than doom metal, a term he never liked, even though the sound is widely compared to early Black Sabbath. Pentagram is counted among doom metal's 'big four' alongside Candlemass, Saint Vitus and Trouble.

Despite years of demos and rehearsal tapes, the band did not release a full-length album until Relentless in 1985, by which point Liebling was the only original member left. Eight more studio albums have followed since, with the lineup changing around him much as it had from the start.

Liebling has remained the constant through a long series of lineups and long gaps in activity. His struggles with addiction and the band's eventual return to touring were documented in the film Last Days Here, which brought Pentagram a level of attention it had never had in its first two decades.

One story from the 1970s captures Pentagram's near-misses: Kiss reportedly tried to buy the rights to two of the band's songs, and nothing came of it. Liebling has since been described as an American answer to Ozzy Osbourne, minus the money and the sustained success.

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doom metal