Pentagram (Chile) “Demos” Double LP Coming Soon

COMING SOON!

Pentagram (Chile) “Demos” Double LP
ANTI-GOTH 748

🔥CHILEAN EVIL METAL 1985-1987🔥
◾Tracks 1-3: “Demo #1”
◾Tracks 4-6: “Demo #2”
◾Tracks 7-10: Rehearsal 1985
◾Tracks 11-13: Live 1987

(Description by C. Conrad)
Few bands in the history of underground metal have had as profound an influence on the genre with as limited a discography as Pentagram of Chile. Not to be confused with the U.S. doom band of the same name, whose origin predated its South American death metal counterpart by just over a decade, the Chilean entity officially recorded a grand total of two demos and an EP during the two-plus years of its original existence. The context of the band’s formation and short-lived existence in a geographically and politically isolated and repressed country lent increased improbability to its eventual attainment of cult-like status. Its scarce output and insularity notwithstanding, Pentagram has been deservedly cited as a major influence on more prolific outfits such as Napalm Death, Entombed, Pentacle, Dismember, and many more.
Pentagram originated in 1985 as the creation of founding members Anton Reisenegger (vocals/guitars) and Juan Pablo Uribe (bass/guitars), who were around the ages of fifteen or sixteen at the time. Although he was not considered an official member of the band until a year or more later, they were joined by session drummer Eduardo Topelberg. This trio recorded three songs as “Demo #1” in January 1987. Just a few months later, in May, two tracks from “Demo #1” were released as the “Fatal Preditions / Demoniac Possession” seven-inch single by the Swiss label Chainsaw Murder, which is best known for its release of Messiah’s (CHE) first two albums, “Hymn to Abramelin” and “Extreme Cold Weather.” Prior to the band’s recording of “Demo #2” in September of that same year, Alfredo Peña joined the band on bass.
The music on these recordings shares characteristics that were common to other death metal bands in the subgenre’s infancy, but it also boasts its own uniqueness. Pentagram’s early output was a high-tempo, aggressive type of death metal, similar to that of Necrovore, but with a more screamed vocal delivery. The addition of a dedicated bassist prior to “Demo #2” lent that recording a degree of more professional musicianship, and it portended great things for the band’s future.
With two successful demos and a seven-inch vinyl release to their credit, Pentagram was on the precipice of gaining huge traction internationally. Indeed, these releases earned them significant exposure through the popular practice of international tape trading at the time. Additionally, Pentagram had gotten several favorable reviews in U.S. publications such as Total Thrash and Violent Noize, as well as others like Black Thorn (Denmark) and FETU (Japan). Nonetheless, success as it is traditionally measured was not in the cards for the band, as a recording deal upon which they had agreed with a Brazilian label, Point Rock, never materialized, and the band dissolved prematurely in 1988.
Over the ensuing decades, Reisenegger in particular has continued his activity in the metal scene with bands such as Fallout and Criminal. Pentagram also briefly reformed in 2001 and again in 2009 for some live performances, and the band was later resurrected as Pentagram Chile, which has recorded two full-length albums along with several splits and singles to date.
It is NWN’s great honor to refocus well-deserved attention on Pentagram’s original existence with its release of “Demos,” a double-LP featuring “Demo #1” and “Demo #2” in their entirety, along with a 1985 rehearsal and a live recording from 1987. Additionally, this release includes a 32 page booklet containing full-color band photos, flyer reproductions, and a complete biography of those early days. Although this period of the band’s existence was relatively short and not overwhelming in terms of its volume of recorded output, “Demos” is a fitting tribute to the outsize influence that Pentagram has had on its peers and the genre of extreme metal overall in the four decades since its inception.

ETA: April-May 2025