Simone Appolloni's Album Reviews
Apart of an up-tempo pop song (no joke), the rest of Relentless finds Pentagram going for the hard road. Choosing decadent melodies and a bluesy vamp to high up the trip is the last road a rock band would choose to make their own contributions to music. Especially a 70s band like Pentagram, who based their whole career with these elements.
Yeah, you understood right. Pentagram may be an 80s band, but they were founded in 1970, following the rules written by Blue Cheer and Deep Purple. Pentagram didn't want to act like a modern act because they were sensibily older than others during the time of their first album, and they knew it well. It's the kind of situation a lot of bands would not survive for long, but a lot of thanks have to be given to Bobby Liebling, who waited 15 years to see his dreams made true. This is bravery.
The best cuts on Relentless are the ones that don't want to be impending (namely, the Griffin-penned songs), but instead inject a great amount of sleaze on the sound. "Relentless" and "Death Row", both first tracks on the two different editions of the album make it clear, and are totally different from dumb pieces like "The Ghoul" and the useless "You're Lost, I'm Free". Another melodic intruder is "Sign of the Wolf", a song worth of bands like The Ramones. However, cuts like "Dying World" or "20 Buck Spin" have good chops, but feel like bar songs. Maybe the production, muddy and cavernous but not enough to be innovative, is what penalizes the album the most. But overall it's a high quality album, especially in a genre when certian bands are incapable of write memorable melodies.
Highlights:"Death Row", "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)", "Relentless".
Yeah, you understood right. Pentagram may be an 80s band, but they were founded in 1970, following the rules written by Blue Cheer and Deep Purple. Pentagram didn't want to act like a modern act because they were sensibily older than others during the time of their first album, and they knew it well. It's the kind of situation a lot of bands would not survive for long, but a lot of thanks have to be given to Bobby Liebling, who waited 15 years to see his dreams made true. This is bravery.
The best cuts on Relentless are the ones that don't want to be impending (namely, the Griffin-penned songs), but instead inject a great amount of sleaze on the sound. "Relentless" and "Death Row", both first tracks on the two different editions of the album make it clear, and are totally different from dumb pieces like "The Ghoul" and the useless "You're Lost, I'm Free". Another melodic intruder is "Sign of the Wolf", a song worth of bands like The Ramones. However, cuts like "Dying World" or "20 Buck Spin" have good chops, but feel like bar songs. Maybe the production, muddy and cavernous but not enough to be innovative, is what penalizes the album the most. But overall it's a high quality album, especially in a genre when certian bands are incapable of write memorable melodies.
Highlights:"Death Row", "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)", "Relentless".
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