Remember the first episode of the "Pantera" series where we told you about "The Rise of the Transformers of Metal"?
If not, then you should click on the link and read the first chapter, before you continue.
The Transformers of Metal !!! - The second episode: "Revenge of the Metal Transformers" - "Revenge of the Fallen":
On February 25, 1992, "Pantera" released their sixth studio album - "Vulgar Display of Power" - which is the subject of the second episode in the series - Revenge!
Revenge of whom you ask? Revenge on the "Decepticons" - the big record companies who were just looking for how to soften, refine and commercialize thrash metal in exchange for piles of silver and gold. Revenge on the music market and their colleagues from the metal genre, for daring to commercialize, succumb to pressure, go with the flow...
So while the world was busy with Grunge and in the days when "Metallica", "Testament" and even "Megadeth" succumbed to the pressure of record companies and tried to produce metal for the masses, the Transformers of Metal fought to achieve just the opposite and the album cover accurately speaks for itself and exactly represent what going on inside.
"A vulgar display of power!" A powerful punch right in the face of the metal world!
This album whose name is taken from a line in the movie "Exorcism", is a direct sequel to the band's previous album "Cowboys from Hell", only it takes it one step further, stronger, and more powerful.
A vulgar and edgy purposeful display of anger, power, and strength, designed to serve as a deliberate protest against the “commercialization” process that bands like “Metallica” went through on The Black Album. At that time, "Pantera" felt that there was some vacuum that "Metallica" left out and this was an opportunity to fill it. So they thought of making their heaviest album ever!!
"Pantera's" music in this album is based on a combination of slow riffs and fast rhythms whose common denominator is heavy, forceful, and even brutal playing. Phil Anselmo abandons the last appendages of the "Glam" and Heavy Metal singing that still shone occasionally on the previous album and in fact almost completely cuts down the "high" and "clean" singing, focusing on screams of rage and powerful roars, and of course, we are not talking about the quiet tracks like in - "This Love" or "Hollow".
The writing topics have also become heavier and deeper, with "Mouth for War" talking about channeling your hatred in good directions, "Walk" raising a triple finger to the company surrounding the band, "Fucking Hostile" attacking religion, and "Hollow" describing dealing with the loss of a close friend in a permanent vegetative state.
The result was not far from what "Pantera" intended. "Vulgar Display of Power" explodes with the forceful "Mouth for War", which is written, of course, about the boxer, world champion, James 'Lights Out' Toney. Vinnie Paul's violent and powerful drumming, Dimebag Darrell's grinding guitars, and Phil Anselmo's screams, all explain MTV's decision to use the song on the legendary "Headbangers Ball". This is the first single the band has released from the album and also their first to hit American Billboard.
This album continues with all the power and rage and does not let the "rain" of guitar strings in the opening of "A New Level" fool you, because what comes next is a dark and heavy riff and full brutal assault of Phil Anselmo. The amazing "Walk" whose broken and contagious riff with the psychic time signature of 12/8, was written during the soundchecks on the band's tour, demands a lot of RE-SPECT !!! And we feel sorry for those who will not "respect" the avenging Transformers. No wonder the song was adopted by wrestlers Rob Van Dam and Edge, as their entry song. Who would even dare mess with them with such a menacing entry?
"Fuckin Hostile" is simply a cruel song that goes right into the vacuum "Metallica" left behind, with their "Black Album". The riff and its rhythm are reminiscent of "Metallica" in its early days and constitute a kind of homage of "Pantera" to the band they adored. The distorted singing is influenced by the singing in the chorus of the song "Head Like a Hole" by "Nine Inch Nails", which was admired by Dimebag Darrell.
This nervous and frenetic atmosphere continues throughout the album with "Rise" which immediately "raises" our heart rate, with "No Good (Attack the Radical)" and its radical "attack" and with "Regular People (Conceit)" and the simple rhythm changes Who never cease to surprise, even from a distance of 30 years.
What's amazing about this album, is that even when "The Transformers of Metal" stop for a few minutes on the side of the road to refuel, with immortal songs like "This Love", which is thought to be written about Phil Anselmo's relationship, but it's rooted in Anselmo's unhappy childhood, or with "Hollow" with the vibrating dual guitar sound of Dimebag Darrell, they still do not lose their power and strength.
We want to be careful about this, so please be with us: Metallica's "Black Album" may be the most successful metal album of the 9090sbut "Vulgar Display of Power" is probably the album that defined the genre and in a sense even Saved the real metal from the danger of commercialization and extinction. This is exactly the "revenge of the fallen" of the "Transformers of Metal", this is exactly how a "vulgar and powerful display of power" should sound!
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music.
"I miss him terribly, personally ... if there is a band that defined my youth, on the same level as Metallica, it must be pantera ... I got this autograph from Dimbag with a big hug, at Ozzfest in 2000 if I Iecall... He added the famous CFH, and I told him a bit about myself .... Pantera was also a serious and powerful part, of my military service soundtrack ... In general, lately, I have been exposed to a lot of media, dealing with the pretty bad period of my military service In southern Lebanon, and of course, a direct line connects Sujud to the music tapes and my mini-disc device...
One of my customs, to this day during live performances, is to glance and "record" the immortal moments during each show, straight to my memory bank... this Pantera performance at Ozzfest, I will not forget for the rest of my life ... Dimebag's Confederate guitar, was so special And beautiful, without getting completely into its negative connotations, I did a very long search in the US, until I found one ... On the fretboard, there is one word: "REBEL" In one word, one guitar managed to sum up the late Daimebag for me, because that's how I was in that period of military service, and also after it ... The Pantera tapes from the regular IDF service, I met again as a reservist in the second Lebanon war of 2006 .... I was very excited to listen to them, and here I found myself again in southern Lebanon .... Anyway .... He has a warm, loving, and painful place in my heart .... "
