History & Biography Pentacle is a death metal band hailing from Bladel in the south of The Netherlands since 1989. The band issued a demo called Caressed By Both Sides in 1992. The group opened for Asphyx and Gorefest. The Winds Of The Fall demo followed a year later. Shows with Occult, Ancient Rites and others followed. Midian Creations issued the band’s Exalted Journey 7” EP in 1995. Damnation Records issued The Fifth Moon MLP next. The group conducted a short tour with Ancient Rites. Second guitarist Edwin Fölsche left and was not replaced. Shows with Cannibal Corpse, Obituary and others ensued. Desaster... In League With... Pentacle was a split release in 2000. Unwilling to tour, Marc Nelissen left in 2001. Alex, Mike’s brother, joined in 2002. The group opened for Peru’s Mortem. Under The Black Cross was a concept album. Ibex Moon re-issued it two years later. This version featured lyrics and a bonus track. This was followed by an EP called Archaic Undead Fury in 2005. The group conducted a European mini-tour. Mike Verhoeven was sidelined due to an arm injury in 2005. The band was booked for the Festung Open Air 2007 festival. Asphyx kicked bassist Wannes Gubbels out due to “musical differences” in 2010 according to the band, “Since Asphyx is a non-compromising band, we had no other choice than to find a suitable replacement.” Wannes focused on Pentacle.
Iron Pegasus issued the band’s 2014 EP, Five Candles Burning Red. One song was already issued on the band’s split with Mortem. Ancient Death Over North America saw the band visit Mexico and the USA. South America was next. As final part of the Dutch/Japanese trilogy, Pentacle and Sabbat, among others, had a split release before Spectre Of The Eight Ropes. Ceremony was opening for Ancient Rites, Pentacle and Cirith Gorgor to begin 2023. The band was booked for Battle Cry Fest in Germany for 2025.
A 'pentacle' is a five-pointed star, within a circle, that acts as a magical talisman. A pentagram does not have the circle around it.
Reviews PENTACLE - THE FIFTH MOON - DISPLEASED
Holland is the land of contradictions. Hailing from the nether regions of Europe means both the worst and the best of what heavy metal offers. On the one hand such miserable wretches like The Gathering, Castle and Pianobotomized hail from there. On the other true shrines of metal such as Sinister, Acrostichon and Asphyx call the country home. Now you can add Pentacle to the latter category. The band with a dwelling in the underground has now released a MCD on Displeased Records, a Mini-CD which can be categorized as pure intensity. It is very encouraging to see that some people in Europe are waking up and abandoning their synthful ways. First came Desaster’s album just this last month and now with Pentacle we have another band which seeks to reclaim the glory of metal for the '90s. More of the same please! - Ali "The Metallian"
Interviews
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