Pentagram- Be Forewarned

[nightsblood]

THoughts on this album? Been revisiting it this week and gotta say it's an odd one. I've always liked it, but there's always been some issues with it as well. Allow me to ramble...

First, the production is kinda odd. It lends a heavy but slightly hollow sound, which makes the album sound less heavy than it ought to. I can only think of Saint Vitus' 'COD' as a comparison; the sound's not bad, but it just doesn't sound quite right for this band.

Next, while every Penta-album tends to be compiled with songs written over several decades, 'Be Forewarned' has a more pronounced 'patchwork' feel to it. The songs do not flow together very well, and it's understandable when you look at the writing credits and song histories. You've got about 4 songs that date back to the early 70s, 4 that are from their early DEATH ROW years, and 4 new tunes, at least 3 of which were written by Victor while the band was on hiatus between '88 and '93 and weren't really intended to become Penta-tunes. The album also ends on an odd note, pairing up an accoustic instrumental (!) with 'Be Forewarned', a song dating to 1972 that, while good, is a rather sleepy number and makes the album end with more of a whimper than a bang.

Yet the album is far from a lost cause, as there are a lot of killer tunes on this one. Three of Victor's new tunes ('Vampyre Love', 'Too Late', and 'Wolf's Blood') are killer, heavy stompers. You also get great Death Row-era tunes in 'Live Free and Burn', 'Petrified', and 'The World Will Love Again'. And even the vintage 70s tunes offer up the geat 'Nightmare Gown', which sounds very much at home alongide here. They actually do a good job of heavy-ing up all the vintage tunes on here, though 'Ask No More' was never afavorite of mine; it and 'Frustration' still sound dated here despite their doomy upgrades.

So in the end I gotta say the album has its flaws, but it still offers up at least 7 great doomy slabs to shake your brain.


On a slightly related note, a Penta-nerd confession is in order: at the bottom of the Acknowledgements page of my doctoral dissertation I added the line, "And of course Blue Cheer". My professor either never read the dedications or just decided not to ask, so my little homage is immortalized in the annals of science

[Cochino]

I totally love their first LP but somehow I never got too much into anything else by them. I didn't like Be Forwarned at all, specially Vampire Love. I didn't get much into non-Reagers Saint Vitus either so my taste in Doom Metal is pretty specific.

[ION BRITTON]

The debut is amazing and full of killer riffs and I like several tracks off the second one a lot, but after those two, no thanks.

[anthares]

S/t, The day of reckoning and this Be forewarned rules. And in this order.
First time I head Be forewarned I wasnt that interested but in time i started to love it too.

[daniel]

I like it a lot. I rarely listen to an album from start to finish so the flow of songs etc. doesn't bother me. Also I think it's their heaviest sounding record for sure - don't get any similarities to 'C.O.D' at all honestly.

[Khnud]

On a slightly related note, a Penta-nerd confession is in order: at the bottom of the Acknowledgements page of my doctoral dissertation I added the line, "And of course Blue Cheer". My professor either never read the dedications or just decided not to ask, so my little homage is immortalized in the annals of science

Love it, most of my friends dissertations have been full of similar references too. Not to Pentagram and Heavy Metal per se, but things in general. A former classmate and good friend (who is doing postdoc work in Boston right now) filled his dissertation with Roky Erickson quotes for example. Thank God peer review does not apply to acknowledgements!

Regarding the album, it is probably my least favourite album in their "triology". Vampyre Love is great, Bride of Evil, Petrified, Live Free And Burn are quite ok but I don't like the stretched version of the title track at all. The rehearsal found on First Daze Here is a thousand times heavier and better.

[Black Axe]

I think it's a great record, but after reading the first post I realized I need to revisit it. My favourite album is Day Of Reckoning. That one is just madness.

[DaN]

"Be Forwarned" totally knocked me to the ground when it came out and it's still a very close 2nd on my Penta-faveslist, no 1 being the debut of course. "Day Of Reckoning" is a whole 1 step down the ladder...

Interesting input Alan, but this part I would agree the least with:

Next, while every Penta-album tends to be compiled with songs written over several decades, 'Be Forewarned' has a more pronounced 'patchwork' feel to it. The songs do not flow together very well, and it's understandable when you look at the writing credits and song histories...

For me the diversity is one of the things that makes the album works so well and also makes it a seminal PENTAGRAM release, since it displays their full spectra. I really think the title track was one of their most successful renditions/rewrites of their early material.

The production would be the one possible weak spot. It sounded a bit too modern and OTT at the time, but it quickly grew on me and now it doesn't bother me at all. It's the following 3 albums that made me turn a blind eye on the band's activities - "Sub-Basement" was just plain bad to be honest. (OK, "Show 'em How" was a decent return to form...)

...and cheers for the reminder! Gonna put this on for the first time in a while a truly enjoy it with the upcoming Friday Beers

[Black Axe]

"Sub-Basement" was just plain bad to be honest.

Really? I don't like the record that much either, but definitively more than Review Your Choices.

[Cochino]

Well, I guess I'm gonna have to give this another chance, although I've given it quite a few and never managed to like it at all. I'm specially surprised at all the love for Vampyre Love, I hate that song since the first time I listened to it, pretty much like Witchfinder General's Music.

[nabel]

I'm specially surprised at all the love for Vampyre Love, I hate that song since the first time I listened to it, pretty much like Witchfinder General's Music.

I have never liked that song, one of the few moments that Bobby's vocals annoy me.

[mordred]

I think Be Forewarned is reasonably good, just like Day of Reckoning. I think Sub-Basement is OK while Review Your Choices is so-so. The debut is definitely in a class of its own, that's for sure.

[nightsblood]

Good discussion! Some replies:


'Vampyre Love' has always been a Love It Or Hate It tune


daniel- sorry, I didn't mean to imply that BF and COD have a similar production. Instead, I meant that both albums have a good production BUT it's not heavy enough for the material on either album.

DaN- I also like the diversity on other Penta-discs, but on this one it just disrupts the album flow for me. Part of the problem may also just be track order; the first 7 tracks are great, great, EH, great, great, EH, great. Thus, just as the album is picking up momentum, it hits a song I'm not crazy about.

Regarding the Black Widow-era releases:

'Review Your Choices' also has it's problems but overall I like it. They do a good job revamping several older tunes (Forever My Queen, Review Your Choices, The Diver, Rams Head), and add a couple of good new ones (Mow You Down, Gorgon's Slave). However, the songwriting on other new tracks leaves a bit to be desired. During the BW era, Joe and Bobby got stuck in a rut writing ploddingly slow, simple songs, and the lyrics Bobby comes up with are almost total gibberish (even Gorgons Slave has some of these symptoms). Thus, I just can't get into 'I Am Vengeance' or 'Megalania', although a song about a giant fossil lizard from Australia does put a smile on my face

Gotta agree with DaN on 'Sub basement', it's just not a good record. It's only saving grace is the great opening 1-2 punch of newcomer 'Bloodlust' and a great reworking of 'Buzzsaw', which sounds much better in 2001 than it did in 1973 when they first demoed it. After that however, the album goes downhill fast. The new songs are again too slow, too simple, and the lyrics are just nonsense. And this time they picked some very uninteresting vintage numbers to give a makeover, so yeah, this one's a clunker after song 2.

I haven't played 'Show em How in ages. I thought it was okay when it came out, but not great; the new songs didn't interest me, and the re-vamped songs were alright but I preferred the originals on 'Wheel of Fortune' and 'Last Days Here'. I'll probably re-visit this one in the near future.

[anthares]

I'm specially surprised at all the love for Vampyre Love, I hate that song since the first time I listened to it, pretty much like Witchfinder General's Music.

I always have feeling "pentagram goes gothic" with this song. (not musically though) hrrr!

[Black Axe]

I just listened to the album again and I agree that the flow of the album isn't that good. But the production doesn't disturb me, though they probably did up the volume too much on the peaceville re-issue I was listening to.

Favourites are still Frustration and Petrified.