Three years after meeting at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, the five young members of Pentateuch deliver the album "The Genesis", a most promising debut. Like their elders Raging Fyah, Roots Underground and Dubtronic Kru, Pentateuch (pronounced Penta-Tooosh) represents the new wave and the future of Jamaican reggae. The band's name, taken from the Greek ("penta" and "teukhos"), refers to the five books of Moses in the Old Testament. In this case, the "penta" symbolises the five members of the band: Kevor "Var" Williams (lead vocal), Brady "Jah Bradez" Robinson (percussion), Andrew "Worm" Ayre (bass), Andrade "Dradi" Bowen (keyboard) and Garth "Duckie" Forester (guitar). "The Genesis" is moreover a direct reference to the band's name, since Genesis is the first of five books of the Old Testament - followed by Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
From the release in February 2012 of Black Face, a single in which Kevor Williams sings of the pride "of being black", Pentateuch had caught the attention of producer Paul "Computer Paul" Henton (notably behind Jimmy Cliff's I Can See Clearly Now), who then launched into the "The Genesis" adventure. This founding album sketches a radiant future, so deep is the sound revealed by the quintet's reggae, backed by mature lyrics (here it is a question of emancipation, hope, unity). The choruses of the superb Kingston sound like an invitation to immerse yourself in Pentateuch's singular world, while Struggles of Africa and Lazy Bones impress with their precision, both in the themes tackled (repatriation to Africa, the value of work) and in the quality of the arrangements.
Pentateuch also puts its money where its mouth is. When Kevor Williams distils his message of hope in his sensitive voice on Cancer Survivor, a song written in memory of his 11-year-old cousin who died of a brain tumour, his band accompanies the track with a strong gesture, since the proceeds from sales of the song on iTunes will be donated to the cancer charity Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS). Whether he touches on the theme of love (the sweet nyabinghi of Unwritten), covers Bunny Wailer's Amagideon (Armageddon Time) or closes on a surprisingly retro reggae-soul (Nothing But Love), this 14-track tracklist moreover exudes this sincerity, this authenticity, which make "The Genesis" one of the finest promises of 2012.
Pull up :
Struggles of Africa
Lazy Bones
Kingston
Black Face
