Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power

ATCO Records: 1992

The only Pantera album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Pantera fan. Any metal fan worth their salt will have this though, for no other reason than that cover. Imagine what it was like being a longhair back in the day, wandering into your local shop in search of something that was keeping the thrash fire alive. The standard bearers, Metallica, had left a void with their deliberate crossover effort the year before (the black album), any number of metal bands potentially stepping to the plate to take over. But Megadeth aimed to follow Metallica's lead, Slayer was between albums, and Anthrax was getting all chummy with hip-hop. No, someone new had to take the mantle, and believing their fresh, groove-orientated take on thrash could do the trick, Pantera aimed to drop the heaviest metal album ever with Vulgar Display Of Power. And to make sure they got your attention, they dropped the most fucking metal cover art ever onto store shelves, something you just couldn't look away from and had to hear what lay within. Paying a dude $10 a punch for the perfect shot never had such rewarding dividends.

More than anything, Vulgar Display Of Power marks a flashpoint in the way metal would be approached in the '90s. No more falsetto singing, Phil Anselmo instead bringing that underground hardcore growl to the forefront and never relenting, save a pair of obligatory ballads. And that bassline needs pitching right the fuck down, practically buried in the mix, so that it grinds like a machine – many subsequent thrash and death metal bands lifted this technique wholesale, such that the Pantera clones forced the band to go even heavier in Far Beyond Driven, just to keep pace.

But those guitar riffs, mang! Dimebag Darrell showed plenty of skill in albums past, but in unleashing their inner beast with Vulgar Display Of Power, he went to a whole other level (a new level!). For sure he let's Pantera's groove carry the load, his guitar tones featuring some of the heaviest crunch and feral snarl ever heard in the genre to that date. But he gets to solo time, and geez'it, the guy's just gone, mang, just gone. Gander at Rise, already an intense tear-out session, taking shredding to glorious highs. It's about the only remnant of '80s thrash on this album, everything else feeling '90s as fuck. Hell, even the 'ballad' This Love comes off more Gen-X pissed-off than whatever passed for sentimental in the decade prior. Other 'ballad' Hollow feeds more off '70s melodrama before getting to the punchy stuff to finish out.

Aggro-groove stompers dominate the album (A New Level, Walk, Live In A Hole, Regular People, By Demons Be Driven), with furious tear-outs breaking any potential monotony (Mouth For War, Fucking Hostile, Rise), though Pantera aren't hesitant to change tempo mid-track either. Something for every metal-head on here, then. Get it, and storm that lacrosse field with the fury of a thousand moshers.

Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill

EastWest Records: 1996

Overlooked? Bypassed? Forgotten? Not words I’d assign to Pantera’s eighth fourth album, but it doesn’t surprise me that The Great Southern Trendkill is sometimes deemed as such. It’s coming off a streak of critically-hailed, genre-defining LPs, the sort of peak few metal bands ever achieve in such a short period of time, much less maintain for a lengthy career. And Pantera had been in the game for well over a decade at this point, noticeable cracks forming from the stresses of so much success. Singer/growler Phill Anselmo was growing erratic during their live shows, rising tensions with the other band members to such a degree they had to record in separate studios. Also, thrash metal in general was on a downslide by the mid-‘90s, much of the old guard unable to keep pace as younger upstarts like Korn were taking metal down different roads. Pantera had proved incredibly adaptable though, and The Great Southern Trendkill was as good a point to reaffirm their place in metal’s domain. I’d say they succeeded, impressions of the time be damned.

What works in this album’s favor is Pantera’s willingness to mix things up again, to go acoustic and mellow more often. That doesn’t stop them from getting all out aggro though, the opening titular cut as vicious an assault of thrash as any metal committed to disc - mid-track, they get back to the groove jam with a kick-ass Dimebag solo that’s oh-so delicious. There’s nary a weak cut following it either, tunes capably mixing between funky rhythmic rock (Drag The Waters), sludgy blues odes (10’s), and heavy thrash stompers (13 Steps To Nowhere). I’m also surprised that Anselmo did his recordings in a totally different studio than the rest of Pantera, because he sounds just as locked in as ever. No matter his issues outside music, guy could still deliver when called upon.

Things get quite interesting in the second half, where Pantera show some new tricks in the crafting of an album. Suicide Note is presented in two parts, the first an acoustic country-blues ballad which was sure to throw fans of Vulgar Display Of Power quite for a loop. As Part 1 ends on something of a cinematic note, Part 2 erupts with as much ferocity as Pantera has ever shown. Definitely among the best one-two punches in Pantera history.

Great Southern Trendkill mostly ends on a run of thrash, with a detour to the epic metal of Floods, something of a return in tone to Cemetery Gates. It has the acoustic passages, groove metal portions, and a lovely solo at the end that fades out into the heavy monster riffs of The Underground Of America. Floods is a good tune, but it seems Anselmo had to try his voice at the ‘grunge warble’, sounding off to my ears. Stick to the southern drawl, yo’.

Still, Great Southern Trendkill ends Pantera’s ‘90s run strong, an emphatic exclamation mark. Tragic so much of their story fell apart after.

Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

ATCO Records: 1990

Many musicians reinvent themselves to keep pace with changing trends. Some even succeed in doing so, avoiding the ‘bandwagon jumper’ label while contributing something worthwhile to the new sound in the process. Incredibly rare, however, is the act that not only adapts, but forages a new path unheard of before, and thrives as a result, spurring their own legion of bandwagon jumpers. How many are there even? Radiohead’s Kid A was a fascinating exploration outside the band’s comfort zone, but it wasn’t a reinvention of the group. The Beatles were constantly evolving in their songwriting, but one can still trace it as a natural progression, not an abrupt change. Gary Grice, formerly The Genius, now more commonly known as GZA, made a remarkable turnaround from debut to sophomore album, but would it have happened had his cousin The RZA not created the Wu-Tang Clan for him to feed off?

I really can’t stress enough just how astounding it is that Pantera came from a cliché, unremarkable glam metal band in the ‘80s, and instantly wiped all that history away with Cowboys From Hell. It didn’t hurt that this was their first major label record, thus pretty much their first real exposure outside their local metal scene. And that’s how the boys from Texas wanted it too, completely abandoning everything about their look and sound of old in favor of getting down and dirty as all the biggest thrash bands were doing. The transformation was so radical, so thorough, so complete that many figured Cowbows From Hell was Pantera’s debut. Maybe a few super hardcore fans from the area knew otherwise, but even they had to be astounded by how effortlessly the band pulled this off. Makes me wonder if any of the authoritative metal rags of the time knew it. Like, is there a write-up in a classic Kerrang or Guitar World issue musing on the same thoughts as above?

Whether approached as a debut or reintroduction for the band, bottom line is Cowbows From Hell is one kick-ass album, with plenty to enjoy whatever your metal preference is. There’s heavy shredding action throughout (Primal Concrete Sledge, Heresy, Shattered, Medicine Man, The Art Of Shredding), complemented by Pantera’s new-fangled ‘groove metal’ approach (Psycho Holiday, titular cut, Clash With Reality, Message In Blood). This is essentially halving the speed of trash’s brisk pace, giving more prominence to the rhythmic potential of their guitar attack.

The best songs though, are where they combine both techniques, plus throw in some gloriously melodic falsetto and dark imagery. Cemetery Gates is probably the most famous of the bunch, and maybe the most famous Pantera song period. Hell, I’ve had those Dimebag Darrell’s riffs stuck in my head for a solid week now! Another winner in this mold is chugging The Sleep. While not as structurally ambitious as Cemetery Gates’ segments, it still features a fucking epic solo from Dimebag. Holy shit, how you can not be a fan of this band after hearing it!?

Pantera - Far Beyond Driven

EastWest Records America: 1994

Whoa, when I said I was glad to be done with psy dub for a while, I didn't think I'd be going this far off the chakra path so soon! It’s quite a turnaround in tone from just a few CDs ago. Awesome!

Pantera’s one of those metal bands I seldom paid attention to when they were active, but should Metal Mike throw some on, I found my head nodding approvingly (sorry, never was much of a mosher; it don't jive with my rave-flailin'). As pioneers of the sub-sub-genre “groove metal”, it's little surprise my dance music trained ears would find some kinship with them. Those chugging bass lines and heavy rhythm guitar action… it’s the perfect meeting ground between thrash metal of the ‘80s and death metal of the ‘90s, with less of the technical wankery of the former, and less of the stupid of the latter. Well, as far as my limited metal knowledge is concerned anyway.

Far Beyond Driven marks the end of what many fans consider the Holy Trinity of Pantera albums, including Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display Of Power (is there any album cover more fucking metal than Vulgar?). Those first two had the distinction of breaking the band out of obscurity and securing their niche within the metal collective, but by ’94 that scene was going through plenty of changes, not to mention many bands had co-opted the bands style. If there was any time to make a stand, it was with this album. I’m assuming they succeeded if Far Beyond Driven’s held in just as high of regard.

Yeah, don’t go expecting brilliant analysis from this review. As I’ve said before, my enjoyment of a metal full-length only goes so far as how long I’m willing to put up with it. To be fair, I’ve come across plenty of such releases that do the trick, but if you want more intricate details regarding Far Beyond Driven, maybe check out Metal Reviews, or Metal Underground, or Angry Metal Guy, or… look, there’s plenty of proper metal review websites.

Anyhow, I like this album; or at least, it keeps my attention for the duration. Pantera expertly switch things up between all-out thrash and sludge-chug groove, such that I can’t even tell when songs stop and start unless there’s a studio fade-out. I seldom have a clue what sing-shouter Phil Anselmo’s going on about, and nor do I really care as “Dimebag” Darrell’s kick-ass guitar work almost always gets the spotlight. And those occasional nods to metal of old are also welcome changes of pace, including a cover of Black Sabbath tune Planet Caravan. D’aw, they can be mellow too.

Y’know, if the rest of Pantera’s discography is as solid as Far Beyond Driven, I should give it all a listen. Hm, the band’s been around since the early ‘80s. Didn’t realize that. What’s their first few albums sound like?

Oh my God! Aaahh…!!! *dies from spandex and hair spray*