Photo by Sebastián Domínguez
Extreme metal legends PENTAGRAM CHILE have confirmed a special livestream event. Set to take place on Saturday, November 28th at 3:00pm EST/12:00pm PST/5:00pm CHL/9:00pm CET, the Virtual Human Sacrifice performance will be filmed at an undisclosed location in Santiago with support provided by Chilean thrash metallers Cabrío.
Comments the band, “Times of plague… When our patience and perseverance are put through the ultimate test. We know what it means to not use your time to its fullest extent. That’s why we want to do this for all of you. No one knows how long we’re going to be around. Let’s celebrate the darkness of life together.”
Tickets for the PENTAGRAM CHILE livestream are on sale now at THIS LOCATION. Don’t miss it!
PENTAGRAM CHILE was founded in 1985. Influenced by bands such as Exodus, Venom, and Celtic Frost, PENTAGRAM CHILE’s harsh sound gained underground recognition through the then-burgeoning tape-trading and fanzine circuit. By 1987, they were drawing increasingly large crowds at shows in Santiago, sharing bills with the likes of Necrosis and Warpath.
A seven-inch was released in Switzerland, featuring the now-legendary track “Demoniac Possession,” but the band’s failure to secure a record deal, along with an increasingly tense atmosphere at gigs, led to the demise of the band in 1988, a split which, paradoxically, ensured the band’s near-mythical status among metal fans. PENTAGRAM CHILE reformed in 2001 for a one-off show. A full-time reunion that included Chilean and European tours in 2009 followed. Their debut album The Malefice was finally released in 2013, twenty-eight years after the band was formed.
The band released the limited-edition Past, Present And Future compilation last year pulling together the disparate strands of PENTAGRAM CHILE’s history, cultural influences, and future musical direction.
Something old: “Evil Incarnate” – This is a “new song” pieced together, like Frankenstein’s monster, from parts of two old ones, the original “Evil Incarnate” and “Summoned From The Grave,” which the band managed to salvage from a 1985 rehearsal tape. All of PENTAGRAM CHILE‘s early trademarks can be found here, most notably the “evil scale” (tone – semitone – tone – semitone – etc.) and the “spider riff,” a fast three-note legato which got (anti-)christened by one of the band’s most ardent fans, Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris.
Something new: “The Antrum” – The group’s latest original composition is a six-and-a-half-minute epic which starts with a doom riff of heavy Trouble worship before descending into a maelstrom of Slayer, Death, and Possessed-inspired old-school death/thrash metal riffing. Lyrically, the band takes on the Hispanic legend of Salamanca, a secret cave where disciples sold their soul to the devil in exchange for exceptional skills and knowledge of various artistic disciplines.
Something borrowed: “Anticueca #2” – An unusual instrumental cover of a piece by the woman who is probably Chile’s most revered folk musician, the late Violeta Parra (who wrote the universally famous “Gracias A La Vida”), recorded for the one-undredth anniversary of her birth. In tackling this complex piece of music, originally written for guitar alone, the band highlights the obvious parallels between Chilean folk and their own music, such as the 3/4-time signatures and the minor progressions.
Something black: “Ritual Human Sacrifice” – This is arguably the band’s heaviest, darkest creation, which up to now has only been available on a split seven-inch with up-and-coming Chilean death metal monks Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and sold out shortly after release. The intro riff was sanctified by underground authority Fenriz of Darkthrone fame in his “Radio Fenris” podcast (“Riiiiiiffffffffff!!!!!!!”), and the dark lyrical subject of human offerings in Aztec culture adds to the pitch black vibe.
The B-side of Past, Present And Future comprises four songs, taken from two “live in the studio” radio sessions, in the tradition of the BBC’s Peel Sessions. Among them are two covers: Death’s “Evil Dead” and Celtic Frost’s “Dethroned Emperor.” Here, we can admire the band in its rawest, purest form, reinterpreting canonical works by some of the gods of extreme metal – and if those bands form part of extreme metal’s pantheon, surely PENTAGRAM CHILE is its fallen angel.
Past, Present And Future Track Listing:
Side A:
1. Evil Incarnate
2. The Antrum
3. Anticueca #2
4. Ritual Human Sacrifice
Side B:
1. Sacrophobia *
2. Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover) *
3. Profaner *
4. Evil Dead (Death cover) *
* recorded live in studio
Purchase Past, Present And Future at THIS LOCATION.
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