A Keg Full of Dynamite

Although it was first released in 2003, A Keg Full of Dynamite was recorded in 1978, when doom metal pioneers Pentagram played at a seedy Washington, D.C., club called The Keg. The band’s lineup was singer Bobby Liebling, guitarists Richard Kueht and Paul Trowbridge, drummer Joe Hasselvander, and bassist Martin Swaney. This recording is the first representation of Pentagram’s High Voltage Records era. And although the fidelity isn’t the best quality, the performance makes up for it. Things start off with a searing rendition of “Living in a Ram’s Head,” where a thick, soupy sludge of guitar distortion blasts under Liebling’s foreboding voice. All comparisons to early Black Sabbath are justified in “Madman,” a driving force of proto-metal laden with leaden riffs that sound like Tony Iommi in stereo. “Day of Reckoning” is another standout rocker, with a mammoth, sternum-shaking rhythm section giving a solid foundation for Kueht and Trowbridge’s dueling guitar harmonies. The album is bookended with “When the Screams Come” and “Living in a Ram's Head,” pulled from the test pressing of the 1979 High Voltage single.