By full way of confession, this is the first Pentagram (Chile) album that I’ve heard. I know that they’ve been active since 1985, and have a horde of fans. It’s also clear that they’ve been a real influence on other bands since their inception. I’ve seen them cited by some of the biggest names in the extreme metal world. The band feature Juan Uribe as an original member since the beginning, but now joined by Anton Reisenegger (Brujeria, Lock Up, Criminal), Juan Cueto (ex-Criminal) and Juan Donoso (Unslaved, Sadism).

“Eternal Life of Madness” is an album which really manages to marry the worlds of death metal and thrash in a vicious way. It’s always a bit of a risk, straddling the line between the two. Some bands have been able to be massively effective and bring something new into the mix, but all too often what we are left with is a mess that lacks the heaviness and attack of death metal, and doesn’t have the chops or the aggression of thrash. Not so with this album. There’s a palpable sense that this is a record that has a cutting edge. “Possessor” (the second song on the album) is one such song. The vocals are gruff, but compliment the main riffing perfectly – which albeit is grounded in some mid-tempo thrash stomping, also has traces of grind and some neat Voivod-ian skronk to it too.

It’s all very much on the heavier side of the equation. If you were looking for some Bermuda-short wearing surf-party-beer influenced thrash, this isn’t going to be your bag. This is much more on the “spikes and Satan” side of the house. The title-track is a great example of this, with a dizzying main riff that sounds like vertigo being injected into your ears, while Anton’s fantastic vocals bark over the top. Imagine Kreator being spliced with The Crown, and you’d be halfway there.

In terms of production, there’s a clear bias towards the top end, which helps give this such a cutting, scything feel and retains some of those blackened moments. Special mention to the drum production by the way, which I initially absolutely hated as I thought that the snare sounded too hollow and thin – after repeated listens I came to understand how this actually accentuated the rest of the percussion (especially the stellar cymbal work).

One of the oldest thrash bands still showing that it’s possible to produce interesting, heavy and addictive music from the genre? Somebody should tell the “big four” what’s happening in Chile…

(8/10 Chris Davison)

https://www.facebook.com/PentagramChile1985

https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-life-of-madness