It's OK, It's Not All That Good: Pain - tagram

While listening to music at work yesterday I decided to check out Pentagram, the Indian rock and roll band that I slightly admired when I was in India. When I searched for them on Rhapsody, I found two entries for Pentagram. The first one was a doom metal band, which I knew was't the one. The next one did not have a genre attaached to it, so I clicked on it. It turned out to be the band I was looking for - the band from Mumbai, and their newest album was listed there too. It's called "It's OK, it's all good". The cover of the album has a peace sign and a "I want to rock & roll" next to it. Anyway, I added the songs to my player and started listening to them one by one. The first song, "Today", got me totally bewildered. I was expecting some cliched Iron Maiden/ Metallica kind of guitar riffs, but instead I heard an entirely different "sound" - a mish mash of metal/techno/punk-pop, a heavy bass line, and Badlani's filtered voice. I must say I liked the song - very much. It was something I did not expect from an Indian band. Kudos to Pentagram for introducing a new sound to the Indian rock and roll sound. All the head banging losers should now realize that it is time to change. The world has a lot more to offer - not just Maiden, Sepultura and Metallica (oh btw, the newest Metallica album is apparently very very very very heavy - for the first time their fans complained and asked them to turn the volume down a little bit).

So, the first song had a lot of energy and was very encouraging. But...

The second song, "Electric" is a blend of NIN, daft punk, LCD soundsystems, digitalism and any electronic band you can think of. Of course, Dadlani using filters to sing kind of gave him a Danzig voice. This song made me cautious. "Are all the songs going to sound the same?" - I though to myself.

And sound the same they did. Every song is an over ambitious attempt at making the song more electronic, which is totally fine. But the only problem is that usually, every song on an album has a different feel to it. I once again appreciate Pentagram's attempt to introduce a new sound, but their lack of experience perhaps let them down. And 16 songs on an album? Please, nobody has the patience to listen to 16 songs now. Give me 10 good quality songs and I am more than happy.

Of course, Dadlani should stop singing. Has somebody ever told him how bad his vocals are? Thank God he used filters, but still in a few songs he sounds like himself which is totally disappointing. Make way for someone else now, Dadlani.

And the lyrics..oh My God! Childish and hilarious. They have tried to sound very bold and serious, but the words are just silly and nonsensical. "Man Eat Man" is a joke. Listen to it if you get a chance. I think it's about how Man has created everything that is bad. I could not understand many of the words because of Dadlani's filtered voice, but it's just stupid. And oh, this song has a very peppy beat to it. Who would ever think of singing about serious things in this world to dance beats, huh?

I heard 5 or 6 more, then gave up. It was deja vu. I had bought their first album in 96. It had a few good songs, but the album was not solid. This one is very similar, except that it's electronic.

So in a nutshell:

- Pentagram's got balls *applause*.

- Very over ambitious , should have been a little cautious (first attempt at something new, you see).

- Don't use filters on all songs, you guys.

- Dadlani should stop singing. He is a good musician, and an equally bad singer.

- Hire a lyricist.

- 16 songs on an album? Don't joke with me please..