8.5/10
Following on the heels of Anvil! The Story of Anvil comes another documentary about a metal band that should have been dealt a better hand, Pentagram, and in particular their crack-addled, borderline psychotic lead singer Bobby Liebling. The story centres around Liebling and his young superfan/manager/best friend Sean "Pellet" Pelletier, as he attempts to get Liebling off drugs for good and back into touring and recording, as a recent resurgence in stoner rock/metal has seen a spike in Pentagram's popularity worth capitalizing on. Unlike Anvil which used the universal themes of friendship and rejection that everyone could identify and sympathize with, Liebling is a harder figure to pity - he seems determined to everything to not help himself, and bring down those around him at the same time. Were he not so visibly deteriorated and in need of desperate attention (medically, physically, emotionally, you name it) it would be easy to scorn him. There's a "right place at the right time" narrative that flows naturally through the documentary, and it's a real rollercoaster ride with a great payoff at the end (it's probably even better if, like me, you don't know much about Liebling beforehand). Like the Anvil documentary, you don't need to be a fan of the music to get wrapped up in the story, so I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.
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