Pentagram come from Arlington, Virginia. They were formed in the early 70's by vocalist/songwriter Bobby Liebling. Their first vinyl release was in July 1972 under the name Macabre. It was a 7-inch that included "Be Forewarned" and "Lazy Lady" and was very heavy for the time period, but compared to their modern material it sound quite dated. The line up on this record included Bobby -vocals, Vincent McAllister -guitar, Greg Mayne -bass, and Geof 'O Keefe -drums. Before Macabre, Bobby was in a band, Shades Of Darkness, though anything about this band is unknown to me. Pentagram also went by these different names for short periods during the 70's: Stone Bunny, Wicked Angel, and Virgin Death...After Macabre, they made two more 7-inches under the name Pentagram. The first in June 73 included "Hurricane"/"Earth Flight", and the second in October '74 which was a test pressing (of about 100 copies, which was never released commercially) that included "When The Screams Come"/"Under My Thumb" (a Rolling Stones cover). These two recordings were very similar to the first single. Around 1974-75 Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss came to see Pentagram rehearse in Virginia, they were looking for a band to sign to Casablanca Records. Paul Stanley also wanted to buy a song that Bobby had written called "Star Lady" for something like $10,000, but Bobby wouldn't sell it, because he wanted to use it himself. Apparently Gene wanted to purchase a song too, but I'm not sure which one. If Bobby had sold the songs, they would have been on Kiss's "Destroyer". However, Kiss didn't sign Pentagram, they signed the band Angel instead, who were also from the Washington DC area. In 1976 Pentagram recorded an EP, but it was never released, the tracks were "Teaser", "Smoke Screen", "Much Too Young to Know", "Little Games" (Yardbirds cover) and "Star Lady". They were going to sign to Columbia Records, but the deal never went through.
It was Mid '78 when Bobby Liebling met Joe Hasselvander. "He was drummer for a local Washington DC band who had supported us before on the east coast", states Liebling. "We got talking while they were setting up, and I soon found we had a mutual love for the English band The Groundhogs. This began a longterm friendship which really started on Halloween '78, after his band had split and Pentagram was on hold. The former members of both our bands had jointed together to form a new band, and were playing a local show. Literally bumping into each other, trying not to get spotted by our ex-musical companions, me and Joe both dedicated to get together. He was already playing with a full working band, and were just in need of a vocalist. It wasn't a full week before we had adopted the name Pentagram and were playing the songs I had written in the Pentagram before"Then in December 1978 they released their last 7-inch as Pentagram and it included "Living In A Rams Head"/"When The Screams Come" with a different line up: Bobby -vocals, Richard Kucht -guitar, Paul Trowbridge -guitar, Martin Swaney -bass and Joe Hasselvander -drums. This recording was their heaviest yet. The band played many local shows but never toured outside the Washington DC area. Atlantic Records were planning to sign the band in the late 70's but again the deal never went through. Then in 1979 the band broke up.
There are also a few demo tapes and live tapes going around from this early period, so if you're lucky enough to find somebody who has the tapes to trade... get 'em. Some of the later live shows of this period, Pentagram played lots of covers, for example Lynyrd Skynyrd because this was the only way they could get gigs. All the 7-inches listed above are long out of print and are very collectable on obscure independent labels: Intermedia Productions,Boffo Socko, No Label Test Pressing, and High Voltage respectively. In 1981 Bobby met guitarist Victor Griffin. "It was Halloween (believe it or not, it's true!), when Joe first introduced me to Victor Griffin", saysLiebling., "A guitarist for a band called DEATH ROW. Victor had fallen in love with my vocals from one of our earlier singles, and was looking for a vocalist at the time. He jumped at the chance to get me in his band. 'All Your Sins' was the first track Victor and I ever wrote together, and was the start of a great writing partnership spanning the next few years. We got Martin Swaney to play Bass, as the bassist Victor had left after a week. Marty played bass with me in an earlier Pentagram, the one which had recorded the 'Rams Head' single in '79." Death Row played many local shows and even released a 110 minute concert video called "Through The Shadow". Then in late 1983 they changed their name to Pentagram on the advice from some record executives.
In early 1985 Pentagram released their first LP called "Pentagram" which was a re-mix of the "All Your Sins" demo. Joe was soon replaced Stuart Rose, and their second LP "Day Of Reckoning" came out in mid'87. Just before the release of that, they got Joe back on drums again. Both these two LP's contain some of the best heavy doom metal ever recorded. Again the band played many live shows in the Washington DC area, plus they even did some live shows in New York, Baltimore and Tennessee. Pentagram, played their last live show with the Mentors in Washington DC at the Hung Jury Pub on April '87. Since the last show Joe has joined Raven, and Cathedral. He also played drums on the two Phantom Lord LP's under a different name: Wolfgang III... or something like that, who knows why. Both those albums are quite lame. Victor tried out for for Carnivore as a second guitarist, but decided not to take the job.
Between 1987-1991 Bobby Liebling reformed the original band. It was Bedemon to start with, and then evolved into the original band like in the early Pentagram-days -the Liebling/Palmer,/Mayne/O'Keefe lineup, with Norman Lawson as an additional guitarist. However it was short lived because of lack of enthusiasm. Liebling was the only one into doing anything where everyone else was just doing it for the heck of it. They ended up playing one gig, but recorded some great tapes -preparing Pentagram's third album- which sounded identical to the early recordings.
In 1991 Pentagram went through lengthy contract negotiations to try and get Peaceville the rights to the band's first two albums "We signed to them for three future albums also in this year", says Bobby Liebling "When this happened Victor agreed to come back and rejoin. (with basalt Marty also agreeing to come back -The Deathrow era line up. It was not long after that Peaceville had secured the rights to both our albums, and every thing was back on." The 1992 compilation "Volume 4"saw the first Pentagram appearance finally to come to fruit on Peaceville. This was followed by the limited Collectors Club 7" single in March which featured the songs 'Relentless''& 'Day Of reckoning'. In 1992 Pentagram rehearsed for over six months, and Liebling saw the retitled re-release of the first LP 'Relentless' hit the streets in May 1993, followed by 'Day Of Reckoning' in August. Pentagram began recording "Be Forwarned" in January 1994. The band stayed together until 1996 when Hasselvander left, and Swaney retired from the music biz. Gary Isom (Iron Man/Shine) replaced Hasselvander and Greg Turley replaced Swaney. Currently Hasselvander and Liebling are continuing with Pentagram, and the band has two albums which have recently surfaced: "Human Hurricane" and "Review Your Choices". "Human Hurricane" (on Downtime Recordings) is the first new Pentagram album in over four years, and features rare and previously unreleased tracks from the 1970's -from the Liebling, McAllister, Mayne, 'O Keefe line-up- when the band were complete feedback freaks, and volume junkies. "Review Your Choices" is recorded for Black Widow Records (Italy) and contains 12 songs.
The band is very excited about the new album so far. A song from the new album called "I Am Vengeance" is also the title of a new horror movie that is being made by long-time Pentagram fan Richard Anasky. The song will be featured (along with songs by other doom bands) in the movie!