This material was originally supposed to come out as a 7" EP on Metal War Productions (after the original idea of doing a live split release with BLOOD STORM fell through), but due to financial problems at the label side, the whole idea had to be canceled. In the end Holland’s From Beyond Productions took care of the whole project and even suggested to do a 10" instead of a 7", which the band of course quickly agreed on. So, after four long years (since the original idea) it is finally out now, nicely packged, with a gatefold sleeve, including an A3 – sized poster of the artwork. Two songs are featured, ‘A Hellish Descend’ (the first song that PENTACLE wrote after their "Ancient Death" MCD) and ‘Blast Them From The Sky’. Both were recorded at Harrow Productions during the "Under the Black Cross" sessions back in September 2004 and both easily live up to the high standard of the album. So, don’t expect any lame outtakes, that weren’t good enough to make it on "Under The Black Cross", but crushing old school Death Metal in the best possible PENTACLE manner! I really hope to see them materialize on CD as well sometime in the near future. Until then, vinyl junkies are adviced to buy this extremely cool (soon to become) collectors item! (Hey Wannes – for some strange reason I didn’t find the promised 100,-Euro note for the good review in the sleeve, but I think the fact that Mike is wearing a Voices shirt on the backcover makes up for it!). www.pentacle.nl

Let’s get straight to the point: PENTACLE is one of the most important Death Metal bands in the history of the underground. No need to explain who they are or what they have done. And, no one should expect to read anything new about PENTACLE at this point, unless it’s related with new material. This review is about the re-release of their two track EP “Archaic Undead Fury” by Vic Records. A brief context: after sorting out some problems with the recording, the EP was originally put out on a 10″ vinyl in 2005 and now is getting back to life on MCD format by Vic Records. ‘A Hellish Descend’ and ‘Blast Them From The Sky!’ are the two tracks featured on the EP, over nine minutes long and showcasing the characteristic old school Death Metal sound of the almighty PENTACLE 19 years ago. That’s it! No surprises here! This re-release comes with an 8 page booklet including rare pictures, flyers, poster and liner notes from Wannes Gubbels. I liked the fact that the original artwork was respected and that no extra tracks were included. I really like when labels try to recreate releases with the closest approximation to the original. Fortunately, this re-release is (again) demonstrating that Vic Records is one of those labels that is able to give their productions a highly respectful treatment by preserving basic things like the original concept and aesthetics as they came out at the time. Still available on the official Vic Records website, just take a look and give this EP a try! www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063713169629, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063485232579