Between records like Relentless and Show ‘Em How, Pentagram have never wanted self-awareness in terms of album titles. The gauntlet thrown down by Lightning in a Bottle is very much in this tradition.
The 10th Pentagram album sees founding frontman and doom figurehead Bobby Liebling leading a new cast of players that includes guitarist/producer Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, etc.), drummer Henry Vasquez (Legions of Doom, Saint Vitus, Blood of the Sun, etc.) and bassist Scooter Haslip (Mos Generator, Saltine). It would be hard to overstate the energy the new band brings to songs like “Live Again,” “Solve the Puzzle” or “In the Panic Room,” but Lightning in a Bottle is unmistakably a Pentagram record, of course in Liebling’s unremittingly charismatic performance and the groove conjured to back it.
Recorded with Reed at the helm, Lightning in a Bottle recalls the best of what has allowed Pentagram to cast an influence across decades and generations of musicians, bands, and worshippers of Riff, and as just their third studio release in the last 15 years, it’s not a moment to neglect as they dig into a cut like “Dull Pain” or “Lady Heroin,” the latter of which is a naked reconciliation on the part of Liebling with a lifelong addiction to opiates that’s become an inextricable part of the Pentagram story. As he wonders in the lyrics, “Lady Heroin, have I seen the last of you?” it becomes difficult to know whether the separation would be through sobriety or death, and that ambiguity becomes part of what makes the song so striking.
It’s not all brooding, even if it is doom. “Thundercrest” is brash, and the nodding title-track recalls past glories without actually reliving them. The central message, anyway you want to look at it, is that no matter how much the band has been through over the last half-century-plus, they remain a singular force. Lightning in a Bottle might not be the first Pentagram reboot, but it brings fresh ideas and dynamic to one of doom’s most classic, formative acts, and as soon as you hit play, the band absolutely own the moment of their own making.
1. Live Again
2. In The Panic Room
3. I Spoke To Death
4. Dull Pain
5. Lady Heroin
6. I'll Certainly See You In Hell
7. Thundercrest
8. Solve The Puzzle
9. Spread Your Wings
10. Lightning In A Bottle
11. Walk The Sociopath
12. Start The End (DIGIPAK and DELUXE EDITION bonus track)
13. Might Just Wanna Be Your Fool (DIGIPAK and DELUXE EDITION bonus track)
14. Lady Heroin pre-edit rough mix (DIGIPAK and DELUXE EDITION bonus track)