Pantera

Vulgar Display Of Power

A landmark, and thats an understatement

Review Score:

(10/10)
"REVENGE!!!, I'm screaming revenge again!" From the minute Phil Anselmo screams those words on opening track "Mouth For War", your thrown in head first to what would become Pantera's landmark defining album, "Vulgar Display of Power". "Mouth For War" flows with intensity, Anselmo sounds just so angry it can't even be put into words, and (before he went Dimebag) Diamond Darrell's blazing guitar solo electrifies the song. "A New Level" is a powerful song of determination which you'll find yourself singing along to. "Walk" is Pantera's most recognizeable song and a concert staple. The catchy riff starts it off, and Anselmo's gruff voice carries the even catchier chorus. "Fucking Hostile" is another one of Pantera's most recognized songs and also a concert staple, and the infamous chorus, double bass drumming, and blazing guitar solo make it one of Pantera's best songs ever. If you don't know "Walk" or "Hostile" by heart your not a Pantera fan. "This Love" starts off as a ballad, but ends up becoming heavy as all hell, and is a great anti-love song and proves Anselmo can sing as well as he can scream. The fast paced "Rise" shows off bassist Rex Brown's talent, as well as Vinnie Paul's intense thrash metal drumming. "No Good (Attack the Radical)" is a fast paced tune as well, and it even sounds like Anselmo is rapping, and he does a good job. "Live in a Hole" is a mournful-esque tune, and the ying to "Regular People (Conceit)"'s yang which has boastful lyrics and an uplifting (well, sort of) feel to it. "By Demons Be Driven" is dark and uncommonly heavy, and is a song featuring the band's disdain towards religion. Closing track "Hollow" is mournful as well, and the lyrical content is Anselmo mourning a close friend who is in a coma. Anselmo once again proves his singing voice before the guitars start to crunch and your thrown into one of Pantera's best songs ever, and what makes it excell is you can hear the pain and dispair in Anselmo's voice, you can hear that it's real, not put on like in most of today's "hard rock" bands. A landmark album by no means, "Vulgar Display of Power" would go on to become Pantera's first platinum selling album (and is still their highest selling one to date), and would help inspire bands of today like Godsmack and Korn to carry on Pantera's aggro-angst metal (note I didn't say Godsmack and Korn could do it better, because anyone in their right mind knows they can't). All in all, this is one album that is a crime not to have.

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