Pentagram has been around almost as long as actual pentagrams have. They’re seriously grizzled, wiley vets of the doom scene and the fact they’re still churning out material is amazing to me. This band has been together in one form or another since 1971 and now they’re back again in 2011. In case you somehow missed the boat on these doom titans, Pentagram plays 70’s styled doom metal similar to early Black Sabbath or old Saint Vitus and they’ve created some of the best moments in the style over their long life. For those already familiar with the Penta-brand, what makes this album a Big Fucking Deal (thank you, Joe Biden) is the return of founding guitarist and doom demigod Victor Griffin (Place of Skulls) who hasn’t graced a Pentagram platter since their last great effort, Be Forewarned way back in 1994. With one of the true masters of doom guitar reunited with one of the founding fathers of doom vocals Bobby Liebling, can things end up as anything other than unnaturally bad ass? No, no they can’t and Last Rites is the strongest and most consistently killer album since Be Forewarned and may even be better. From start to finish, this sounds like a fully recharged and hungry Pentagram and what makes it even better, it sounds WAY heavier and more battle ready than the recent string of releases with Joe Hasselvander playing all the instruments. This is Grade A doom with some serious attitude and it delivers a major kick to the arse. Not what you would expect from a bunch of old codgers eh?
