When I first heard Pantera back in 1990, I was a wee sophomore in high school. Completely off of my radar, I had never heard of them. I heard about Pantera from an old friend in New Orleans who urged me to pick of their latest album, Cowboys from Hell. I loved the fact that within Pantara was a connection to my hometown: their singer Phil Anselmo was from New Orleans and formerly fronted the now legendary Razor White.
After giving this album a listen, I knew right away that Cowboys From Hell was a total game changer for heavy metal. It sounded like nothing that was coming out at the time and it seemed like it created this fine line between power metal and a toe that was just barely touching the line that crossed over into the more extreme side of metal. The band as a unit was so unique sounding Diamond Darrell’s guitar tone, the unique power metal/thrash hybrid vocals of Phil Anselmo, the almost machine-like drumming of Vinnie Paul accompanied by the constantly busy bass walks of Rex Brown was exciting.
Pantera was definitely the beginning of a new wave of metal and I had no clue where this wave would take us. It was exciting to hear something so energetic, aggressive and yet fun at the same time. Seeing them twice on the Cowboys from Hell tour was something to be seen. They had this almost mystic vibe to them in how they could bring an audience to life. I always attributed that to vocalist Phil Anselmo.
Phil had this way of being an accessible character. He would get in the crowd, pull people up on stage; it wasn’t like seeing a pompous arrogant rock star. Phil made it look easy, natural, and like something any of us could do. Pantera live was a totally uninhibited beast that could barely be contained. There wasn’t a still body in the room and when you left a Pantera show, your neck hurt for three days after.
The 2nd time I saw Pantera, Phil announced that they would be playing some new songs from their next album. Songs like “Mouth For War”, “Walk”, and “Fucking Hostile” gave us a taste of what was to come and me and my buddies waited impatiently for the release. Finally, during my senior year of high school in 1992, the day would come when Pantera’s album Vulgar Display of Power would be released. This was the album for all of us metal dorks and outcasts who for so long were silenced by bullies and society in general. With Vulgar Display of Power, I felt like Pantera was the band that hard our backs.
Like with any band I find myself loving, I decided to work my way backwards to see what else Pantera had to offer. Going back to their first album with Phil Anselmo, Power Metal, they were these weird metal dudes who were as awkward and weird as we were. They were these kind of dorky guys making this great power metal music. Cowboys from Hell was a step forward and up to a more aggressive level but with Vulgar Display of Power they sounded like a whole new band. It’s like the dorky scrawny metal dude that got picked on went away for summer break and came back to school ripped, looking scary as fuck, and ready to rip the balls off of anyone that got in his way.
26 years later, while talking to my buddy Jacob one day about Pantera, I started to remember how much I loved Vulgar Display of Power. This kind of caught him by surprise because if you asked me now if I was a Pantera fan I’d quickly say, “Fuck no.” He asked me what it was that made me stop liking Pantera at some point and for this I had to really do some serious soul searching and thinking to what it was that broke that connection with this band that at one time felt so strong.
The more I thought about it, the clearer it became. I feel like I hated Pantera because I blamed them for spawning so many of the bands that would despise. Bands like, Hatebreed, Slipknot, Five Finger Death Punch, and Lamb of God to name a few were all inspired by Pantera. Maybe it was those bands’ particular fan base, attitude, and meathead mentality that turned me off from Pantera. With that being said, I knew that at this point I needed to revisit Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power album, and find out if that love and connection that I had with it back in the day might be rekindled.
As I put on the first song, “Mouth For War,” a flood of memories came crashing into my brain like a tsunami. That monstrous guitar tone, the machine-like drumming of Vinny Paul, that voice of Phil Anselmo just screaming with all he had as if he was releasing some demon that had been trapped inside of him for way too fucking long. Clearly this guy was not taking shit from anyone. The sheer power of it all was just overwhelming in a great way.
Sonically, Vulgar Display of Power sounds massive. It’s got such an intense sound to it and while the production is really fucking fantastic, it also sounds very raw. I also love the fact that when Diamond Darrell takes a solo, instead of overdubbing rhythm tracks, bassist Rex Brown just takes over showcasing that he can really hold shit down on his own.
“A New Level”, “Fucking Hostile”, and “Rise” still sound so intense and heavy and I was reminded that these songs all have elements of metal that I love so much; tempo changes, powerful vocals being pushed to the brink, and lyrics that I can now see totally spoke to many young people my age feeling the oppression of society and our peers.
I was reminded of what a great fucking song “Regular People” was. The groove that they lay down on that song reminded me of those fun days in my youth when I could actually get in a mosh pit and not throw my back out. “Hollow” totally gave me goose bumps as it seems to be the brother song to “Cemetery Gates” from Cowboys from Hell. The song touches on the still sadly relevant issue of loss whether it be suicide, drugs, whatever. It’s an intense, emotionally filled song that reminded me that Pantera had heart.
Looking back, Vulgar Display of Power was the anger that brewed within me as a young man; the anger and frustration of being bullied, being the underdog, and being one of many headless children (total W.A.S.P reference there) in my generation were all reflected in the music and lyrics of this album. The aggressive but still accessible music of Vulgar Display of Power made it comfortable for me to listen to but it didn’t make me want to go kick someone’s ass or to beat the shit out of my walls or anything. If anything, as an adult Vulgar Display of Power sounds like a self-help album to me; an album that said and did all the things I wanted to but found solace in the fact that Pantera did it and said it all for me.
The older I got the further Pantera was in my rearview mirror to the point that I wouldn’t even listen to them anymore. My relationship with Pantera ended with the release of Far Beyond Driven. Why? It’s hard to put into a lot of words but in a nutshell, with the exception of “Five Minutes Alone”, “I’m Broken”, and their stellar cover of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan”, I felt that the album had taken Pantera further into a way more aggressive side that made me feel a bit left in the dust. I also began to notice that a lot of the people sporting Pantera shirts were the beer guzzling, meathead jock kids who made fun of me for liking metal. The irony of it all was just too much so I just jumped ship.
More than 20 years later, here I sit at my desk listening to Vulgar Display of Power and you know what? It was really a lot of fun. I put all bias aside and I channeled that 17 year old who was so full of excitement for the release of this album. I was able to listen to it with the ears of my younger self and I discovered that instead of feeling like it was a meathead album that it was a voice for me. In a lot of ways, Vulgar Display of Power was like the bigger friend who stood up for you in a fight, ran off the other party only to turn to you and say, “You ok, dude? Let’s go talk about Priest.”
It’s amazing how your feelings about an album can change when you listen to it from a different perspective 26 years later. Listening to Vulgar Display of Power was like re-connecting with an old friend that I let go and while I still may think that this album birthed a whole genre that I would grow to not find any connection with, I can’t blame this album for that. What I can do is remember what an important album Vulgar Display of Power was and still is.
Vulgar Display of Power changed the landscape of metal and whether I like it or not it inspired a whole new generation of young people to play music that I don’t like. That may sound like a back handed compliment but what I’m trying to say is, love it or hate it, Vulgar Display of Power just may be one of the most important and influential metal album of my generation. For that, I salute Pantera for having the foresight and courage to make such a bold album that to this day influences, inspires, and connects with kids who fell all of those oppressive feelings that I felt when I was young.
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