Pentagram was always one of those bands that I heard a lot about but never really heard a lot of. I mean, I don’t know what it was but the name would pop up time and time again but nobody I knew really seemed to truly listen to the band. Like any other curious, dorky metal head I found myself doing some homework and tracking down some Pentagram. After hearing their self-titled debut and their rarities collection First Daze Here I was instantly hooked on this Virginia based band and couldn’t help but ask that million dollar question: “Why were these guys not fucking huge?” Well, after finally taking the time to watch the Pentagram documentary Last Days Here, that question was answered very loud and very clear.
Last Days Here was a really great watch and I honestly think that it should be required viewing for EVERY young person looking to get into rock n’ roll. Watching footage of this great band that had the chops, the energy, the heart, and the songs literally had me falling in love with the music of Pentagram. Had this band had the opportunity they very well could’ve been America’s answer to the hard rock/metal movement that was happening overseas in Europe but instabilities in the line-up and Lieblings addictions kept the band from ever achieving the greatness that they could’ve had.
There are some seriously intensely uncomfortable moments in this film. Smoking crack in his parents basement as a grown adult, his trips to the ER because of paranoia that he was being eaten alive by parasites, and his love affair with a girl more than 30 years his junior are just a few of the moments that had me cringing and shaking my head but somewhere deep inside of all that madness, all that sadness, all that chaos is an artist with an imagination as vivid and as haunting as the very words that roll of his tongue. Manager and longtime friend Sean “Pellet” Pelletier truly went above and beyond what anyone would do for, well, anyone. The love and passion that this guy has for Liebling and the legacy of Pentagram is the thing that made this movie and this story in general have the positive outcome that it has.
Last Days Here pretty much sealed the deal on me being a Pentagram fan. Now I’m in no way a completest but it inspired me to seek out those early recordings and bootlegs and in those recordings I found some real, unearthed magic. Even as I write this and the song “Last Days Here” is playing, I can hear the helplessness, the pain, and even the sorry of Bobby Liebling. This guy should’ve been dead a long time ago but some unexplainable power has kept him around all these years. Maybe it was so that this story could be told and shared with the masses. Liebling is getting to do what many before him and many since haven’t been able to do and that’s living to see his legacy get the attention and adoration that it truly deserves.
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