52 Albums That Shaped My Life - #28

Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

(Atco, 1992)

Buy the album here

This blog post is getting stuck in my brain.  Pantera were a huge influence in my shift towards heavy metal, and years ago would have been a top ten band.  But my understanding of their music is shrouded now.  The on-stage murder of guitarist Dimebag Darrell amid an acrimonious band split, a retrospective reinterpretation of the band’s open embrace of white American South values, and the ongoing problem of vocalist Phil Anselmo’s racism have marred a joyful experience of chest-beating, mosh-pitting, trend-killing heavy metal.  In a 90s scene that was struggling to hold on to the aggressive, virtuosic, solo-filled thrash fury of the 80s, Pantera were the self-proclaimed saviours of “real” metal.  While metal would have survived without Pantera, it is not an exaggeration to credit them with maintaining the dreams of mainstream metal fans enduring the side effects of grunge in the early 90s, and the near disaster of nu metal in the latter part of the decade.  In 1992 Pantera intended Vulgar Display of Power to be the antidote to the seismic shift in heavy metal caused by Metallica’s “Black Album”.  It is concentrated metal attitude with the hardcore edge that Phil Anselmo brings to most of his projects.  The fun-time rock ‘n’ roll shenanigans of Dimebag Darrell and his drummer brother Vinnie Paul, evidenced by their earlier power metal phase, are keenly balanced by Phil’s desire for Pantera to lead rather than follow at a time when heavy metal was in disarray. 

While the macho, “us vs. them” lyrics may not have aged well, Phil Anselmo was undeniably the best frontman in metal through the 90s.  On “A New Level” and “Mouth For War” Anselmo’s bravado is a galvanising force for those on the inside and a stiff middle finger to those outside.  The swaggering groove of “Walk” and its staccato gang vocal chorus set the tone for an album that hammers at the same point repeatedly without ever boring the listener.  Anselmo’s unwavering delivery is central to this feat.  Combining vocal depth and abrasiveness previously unheard in mainstream metal, his performance became the blueprint for a generation of American heavy bands.  It is, even after all the shit that has happened, an irresistible display of anger and arrogance. 

But it only partially prepares you for the ferocity of Pantera’s self-proclaimed “hit” song, the almost-too-subtle “Fucking Hostile”.  At this point your ears turn to the perfect rhythm sounds and crisp solos of guitarist Dimebag Darrell.  He was killed in 2004 while playing with his new band Damage Plan, but the work he left behind could be the genius product of a lifetime of practice.  While the influences of Eddie Van Halen and Ace Frehling can always be heard in Dimebag’s work, it is channelled here to produce a genre-leading album that revels in going against the grain.  “Fucking Hostile” is built around a Battery-esque verse riff, a pure Pantera groove-laden chorus, and a phenomenal solo from a man who kept alive the traditions of guitarist forbears while pushing the art in new directions.  Dimebag used his whammy bar as a second vocalist.  If you ever saw Pantera live or have been in a metal club when Pantera songs hit the dancefloor, you’ll have witnessed people “singing” along with Dime’s solos, and “…Hostile” is a prime example, wailing out like a NWOBHM singer.  This quality is continued, at half the pace, on album lynchpin “This Love”.  Dime’s picked opening is atmospheric, channelling the spirit of the classic “Cemetery Gates” from previous album Cowboys From Hell, and is supported by Anselmo’s thoughtful croon.  The direct heaviness of the chorus riff and its interplay with the vocal hark back to “Walk”, but “This Love” has much more happening with an extended bridge section and bruisingly slow and heavy breakdown leading to an expressive Dimebag solo.  Pantera display everything that makes them so influential in this one song.

Drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex Brown are central to that Pantera sound, providing an immense foundation that allows Dimebag to seamlessly veer from rhythm to lead guitar.  Driven by thick bass and tom sounds, measured use of double bass, heavy china and crash strikes, and an unerring snare that cuts through the guitar without ever overcrowding the song, Vinnie’s performance on Vulgar… is classic heavy metal drumming updated for the modern metal fan.  Rex’s bass is gut-shaking low-end with enough hook to stand alone.  In “No Good (Attack the Radical)” the bass riff during the opening verse builds tension brilliantly while Vinnie’s thunderous skin beating powers the song throughout.  “Regular People (Conceit)” displays the unity the band had as performers: the riffs and drums play off each other while the vocals feed on that energy, constantly propelling them forward.  The bass makes this possible with its unshakeable solidity and groove.  But its Dimebag’s riffs that stick in the mind, and “By Demons Be Driven” is a bursting-to-life of his flare, heaviness, groove, and free-flowing solo genius.  He does everything in this song from militarily heavy riffing and blues-inspired grooving, to the pained squeezing of notes and one-man “duelling” solos.  In combination with Anselmo’s perfect roars of “by demons be driven”, Dimebag’s performance creates another classic heavy metal track and sets up the sonically diverse closer.

Establishing itself as a ballad about the death of a friend, “Hollow” displays Pantera’s classic metal influences before splitting itself in half and hitting you with a neck-snapping series of riffs, double bass driven drums, and vicious vocals.  And this is what Vulgar… did to me when I was growing up: it introduced me to music from earlier generations by openly celebrating its influences, but was completely intent on carving out a new extreme, groove-based sound that was unwavering in its self-belief.  Pantera were, throughout the 90s, the one mainstream metal band that refused to pretend.  While other bands experimented, softened, or catered to the masses, Pantera held to their “fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke” attitude, and proved that heavy music would always have an audience irrespective of trends.  For me, and many others, that all started with this album and the screeching slide at the start of “New Level”.  That moment proved these guys weren’t here to please anyone else, and that they would dominate through sheer force of will.  And while their story has taken painful and unacceptable turns, during the Phil Anselmo era Pantera produced a decade of musical aggression that stands alongside the work of the biggest metal bands in history.