Review by Rosh on January 16, 2022.

Pentagram further embraced heavy metal by time they re-emerged in the 80's, since self-titled, a.k.a. Relentless has got more emphatic metal riffing than anything featured on the First Daze Here rehearsal demos (I hope I will be forgiven for bringing up the compilations as source material since they're my only exposure to the music, being a younger fan). However, what they followed it up with in 1987, the 34-minute LP Day Of Reckoning, introduced the sound that makes Pentagram a relevant band to this day (you have bad taste if you don't think they're still relevant), by actually regressing a bit to their 70's self but with more "Master Of Reality" type heaviness. This album right here is essential doom structured concisely and perfectly. It's the perfect metal album all around and astonishingly accessible. Before I dive into the songs here, I've also got to say that Day Of Reckoning is the sheer proof that doom metal substantiates much more of the formative years of now standardized metal subgenres than anyone gives it credit for - this is, along with Candlemass, Trouble, and Saint Vitus albums released around this time, the culmination of 80's doom. I recall some 50 year old groove-thrash knucklehead once telling me doom metal wasn't a known thing in the metal world till the late 90's, and Type O Negative was this guy's idea of a doom band. That's hilarious because I don't think Pentagram would be writing songs like 'Evil Seed' with such burnt out delivery and ominous melodies if they didn't know they were onto something yet. The Skull existed by 1985 for crying out loud and "Pray For the Dead" sure isn't USPM. And for god's sake, Candlemass' first album from 1986 literally has doom metal in the title.

So yeah, the songs on Day Of Reckoning, they've got balls! The title track is really an intense, driving banger that makes one "review (their) choices" in life, so to speak. It's really proof of how no one understands doom metal, because that song is forth-charging in a way that projects slothiness without actually being really slow at all, thanks to the power chord battering ram of Victor Griffin's riffing in between Bobby's vocal lines. Not to mention, the melodies in the bridge are doom as fuck. 'Evil Seed', though, as mentioned above, is where the album slows down for the first time, having a typical early Sabbath riff during the intro and chorus, but being entirely bass and drum-driven during the verse. Again, the doomy melodies shine through much more than on Relentless, lending an introspective feel to the music. 'Evil Seed' seems so have lyrics concerned with being led on by a woman only to be manipulated or dumped, which suffice it to say was relatable in my high school days.

The take home point of the latter paragraph is that the album opens with a damn fine one-two punch, but delivers yet another duo of fantastic doom standards in 'Broken Vows' (which seems to be about moving past strife such as that brought up in the previous track) and 'When The Screams Come', one of the band's oldest songs but once again defining doom metal further this time around. 'Burning Savior' is of course the fierce centerpiece here, and it's a lot of people's favorite Pentagram song. You gotta love Bobby's downcast vocal delivery during the refrain on this one, and once again Victor's riffs are total slugs that pack a massive haymaker of a punch. Martin Swaney is also a better bassist than most would give him credit for, and drummer Joe Hasslevander is an unsung hero all around (though apparently some other guy recorded drums for a couple tracks on some versions of Day Of Reckoning, I forget the exact details). Oh, and 'Wartime' is the stoic closer every classic metal album needs of course.

FUCK. Again, I'm a youngin, so I'm reviewing the now-standard reissued track-listing. It wasn't always this way, though. If I remember correctly, 'Day Of Reckoning' was still the opener on the original issuing, but 'Evil Seed' was way later on in the album. 'Madman' was weirdly stuck in the middle of the record too. So yeah, the reissued track-listing is better paced but all the songs here are excellent, bar-none ESSENTIAL doom, so it doesn't matter too much how you organize them, as listening to the Turn To Stone compilation from Peaceville Records reveals. That CD has a lot of their best songs on it, and it starts with 'Petrified' from Be Forewarned which is a mid-paced deep cut.

Now, I've already essentially said this, but it doesn't really get any better than Day Of Reckoning musically. Review Your Choices is generally doomier and heavier (and my #1 favorite), while Be Forewarned is a hell of a lot more varied and complete, perhaps even more creatively bright, but Day Of Reckoning is just it, man. You need this record and you have no excuses for not owning it that aren't related to finances. It's accessible. It's doomy. It's good.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Elijah on February 26, 2020.

Gonna say this right off the bat, this album is easily one of the bands' best work ever. It's kinda crazy how they put out albums like The Ten Commandments, Retribution, and Stillborn and not too long after those releases they have this. They pretty much revamped their general sound if I do say so myself. This album is the blueprint for every other single album put out after this one. New sound. Their first three records are straight OSDM, but In Cold Blood is an outstanding mix of old school and new school, as it was released in 1997. This is THE Malevolent Creation album.

This album is so great because of how every instrument sound. The drums are my favorite thing about this, the snare has a thick yet loose punchy sound, and with every blast beat and snare hit, it matches the sound of the guitars perfectly. The kick drum sounds heavy, thick, and bouncy, as well as a "punchy" sound like the snare too; and it's perfect. The drums are very solid in every way. The guitars have that sound that perfectly defines death metal released between 1995-2002. I don't know anything about guitars, but all I got to say is that they sound absolutely flawless here. Along with the drums, they sound vibrant, upbeat, and just great and flawless, straight up.

I can't exactly choose a favorite track, but it's probably 'Nocturnal Overlord'. The song opens up with a few strums and blast beats, then fast, brutal riffing with skank beats followed by blast beats at the end of every measure. Pretty good way to start off the album, they immediately show the listener the guitars close and clean, and the skill of the drummer too. As of the previous album Eternal, Jason Blachowicz takes role of vocal work on this album too. His vocals on Eternal are great, but on this album his they are more clean, expansive, and straight up. On Eternal it was near the same, but it had more of a dry-ish sound, compared to In Cold Blood where they're heavier, more guttural, and ruthless. I definitely prefer him over Brett Hoffman, honestly. He just has more backbone and solidity. Dave Culross isn't behind drums for this album; sure, does sound like him though. Derek Roddy is in the band for this one, and he sure as hell did an amazing job. Like I said previously, the drumming is outstanding on this record. Clean blast beats and fills over and over, couldn't be better. In the future he played in bands such as Hate Eternal on their albums "King of All Kings" and "I, Monarch", and with Nile on "Black Seeds of Vengeance"; so makes great sense that they chose him, he was relentless on this album and he soon brought it to other bands in the future. Seriously some top-notch drumming. Every musical aspect of this album is absolutely flawless, and nothing is of a bore.

Most people may prefer the first three albums; the classics, over other things the band released, but nope; not me. I'm not one of them. I prefer this era along with any other album after Stillborn countless times more. It's just more entertaining, more brutality, expansive, and creative. There's no bore, no song skipping, etc. no nothing of the sort. Like I said at the beginning, this is THE Malevolent Creation album. If you haven't heard this album do yourself a favor, get off your ass and listen to it, along with all the other post-Stillborn ones as well.

Rating: 10 out of 10