Before they found their sound in largely mid-tempo heavy metal with strong influences from the Turkish music they grew up with, Pentagram was a thrash metal band. And while their self-titled debut album is quite primitive, ‘Trail Blazer’ shows immense progress. It is still a bit rough around the edges, mostly due to the flat production and Ogün Sanlısoy’s underdeveloped vocals – he has come a long way since 1992. But in terms of songwriting, ‘Trail Blazer’ is leaps and bounds ahead of the first album. ‘Trail Blazer’ may have been a thrash classic if it came out elsewhere and earlier.

It is truly remarkable that only two years had passed between ‘Pentagram’ and ‘Trail Blazer’. Where the former took obvious inspiration from Slayer, ‘Trail Blazer’ takes thrash metal in a more sophisticated direction. My first reference was Artillery. Both ‘Trail Blazer’ and Artillery’s ‘By Inheritance’ inject a lot more melody and intricacy into thrash metal without immediately sounding like progressive thrash and perhaps more notably, both albums extensively feature distinct Middle-Eastern influences in the riff work without becoming too ham-fisted about it. Pentagram was still searching for their sound on ‘Trail Blazer’, but they definitely are getting closer than on the debut.

The band obviously still appreciates some of the stuff on here, as ‘Vita Es Morte’ and ‘No One Wins The Fight’ are still live staples to this day. Both are highly dynamic thrashers with a nearly ominous feel in their effective tension build-up and the gang shouts in the choruses are guaranteed sing-along success. With the release of their recent unplugged album ‘Akustik’, ‘Fly Forever’ has been played frequently again as well. And while the ‘Akustik’ version is superior, mostly due to Sanlısoy’s improved vocals, this moving tribute to their former guitarist Ümit Yılbar, who was killed while serving in the army, is one of the album’s highlights, Demir Demirkan’s mind-blowing guitar solo in particular.

However, ‘Trail Blazer’ has a couple of tracks that are deserving of more praise than they actually get. ‘Livin’ On Lies’ might just be my favorite song from Pentagram’s thrash metal era, since it has a fantastic main riff, while Cenk Ünnü’s drum parts do a great job keeping the tempo feel surprising. Another track with some of the greatest riffing on the record is ‘Time Bomb’, which starts with a whirling, almost Chuck Schuldiner-ish lead guitar riff and develops into a song that sounds like it could have been written during the transitional period between NWOBHM and thrash metal. ‘Over The Line’ sounds like it could have been on any Testament album, while ‘Secret Missile’ kicks the album into gear very powerfully.

Pentagram would certainly get better after ‘Trail Blazer’, but the album is the first step towards proving the band is truly something special beyond being one of the first bands attempting this style of music in Turkey. It is the first album that shows the band as good, occasionally great songwriters and it also doesn’t wear its influences on its sleeve quite as much as the debut. Again, if this album came out five years earlier and in the Northwest of Europe, it would probably have been considered a bit of a forgotten classic. It would never be too late to remember though.

Recommended tracks: ‘Livin’ On Lies’, ‘No One Wins The Fight’, ‘Time Bomb’, ‘Fly Forever’