{"id":104467,"date":"2025-01-31T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104467"},"modified":"2025-02-04T14:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:32:57","slug":"album-review-pentagram-lightning-in-a-bottle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-pentagram-lightning-in-a-bottle\/","title":{"rendered":"PENTAGRAM – Lightning In A Bottle (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PENTAGRAM
Lightning In A Bottle<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHeavy Psych Sounds (2025)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rising from his coffin like Nosferatu reborn, grand ghoul master Bobby Liebling assembles a new line-up and behold, Pentagram is back with a tenth full-length opus, the first for a decade. Liebling conducts his orchestra of doom like a man possessed; guitarist Tony Reed, bassist Scooter Haslip and drummer Henry Vasquez conjure ancient spirits for another s\u00e9ance of sound.<\/p>\n

Detractors may be waiting in the wings to scoff at such clunky rock, but for me this is Pentagram doing what they do best, enticing the listener behind the black curtain and stifling them with a blanket of stuffy gloom. Liebling, as expected, rants and raves like the demented janitor at the haunted campus warning the latest students of their impending fate.<\/p>\n

Liebling is also the bogeyman, staring wild eyed at the petrified audience he croons \u201cI need to know that this time it\u2019s real, I lost myself along the way\u201d<\/em> on opener \u2018Live Again\u2019. The riff is massive, somehow fresh yet somehow old and musty as Liebling bellows \u201cYou don\u2019t know me… I wanna live again\u201d<\/em>, and damn you better believe him.<\/p>\n

The American band does everything in their power to carve huge chunks of gargantuan doom that\u2019s instantly catchy. \u2018In The Panic Room\u2019 is Pentagram in cheery mode with sonic 70s groove that\u2019s somewhat generic and familiar, although I can\u2019t for the hell of me think where I\u2019ve heard it before. Even so, it epitomises the timeless quality of the band that has that effortless ability to construct maddening psychedelic and creaky, musty rock \u2018n\u2019 roll in equal measure.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thundercrest\u2019 chugs like it\u2019s suddenly going to burst into thrash, the riff is gnarly to say the least but also sun-baked and contemporary. Meanwhile, \u2018Lady Heroin\u2019 rumbles with the same juggernaut intensity. Sure, the morose Pentagram still exists, particularly on stoned fuzz buzz \u2018I Spoke To Death\u2019 and the stark, monolithic title cut, but if anything Pentagram 2025 has more in common with Corrosion Of Conformity circa Wiseblood<\/em> (1996) and beyond, and that\u2019s due to those slightly serrated riffs and bulbous rolls which aren\u2019t soupy enough to be doom metal. But c\u2019mon people, it\u2019s another Pentagram outing, the first in a decade, and one which sizzles with psychotic aplomb thanks to Liebling\u2019s wizened, charismatic croons and wizard warbles. \u2018I\u2019ll Certainly See You In Hell\u2019 is a straight up rocker, \u2018Spread Your Wings\u2019 a tried and trusted doomscape, and closer \u2018Walk The Sociopath\u2019 is a literal oozefest that shifts like treacle.<\/p>\n

The deluxe edition of the album features three bonus cuts: a rough mix of \u2018Lady Herion\u2019, lethargic slugger \u2018Might Just Wanna Be Your Fool\u2019 and the bulbous and bluesy \u2018Start The End\u2019.<\/p>\n

To an extent, Lightning In A Bottle<\/em> isn\u2019t a million miles away from 2004 platter Show \u2019Em How<\/em> musically; the riffs are simple and all tracks on board are instant. No, it\u2019s not an album that will go down as an essential purchase, but let\u2019s just live in the moment and be here now for what could be Bobby Liebling\u2019s last stand. Lightning In A Bottle<\/em> is as solid as oak, a reliable and rich source of doomy rock sold to you by a crazed and glazed madman you just can\u2019t ignore.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PENTAGRAMLightning In A Bottle Heavy Psych Sounds (2025)Rating: 7.5\/10 Rising from his coffin like Nosferatu reborn, grand ghoul master Bobby Liebling assembles a new line-up and behold, Pentagram is back with a tenth full-length opus, the first for a decade. Liebling conducts his orchestra of doom like a man possessed; guitarist Tony Reed, bassist Scooter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2460],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-pentagram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104471,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104467\/revisions\/104471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}