Vulgar Display Of Power

I was a teenage dirtbag. Not in the parlance of our current time, where a celebrity like Reese Witherspoon will post awkward photos from her teenage years where she had braces, then type “cringe” as a caption and #teenagedirtbag. I was a teenage dirtbag in the traditional sense: a weird, cigarette smoking metal head; a total societal misfit. To prove my dirtbag credentials: The first concert I went to of my own accord was a split bill of White Zombie and Pantera in 1996 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ. (Now I’m not saying metal heads are dirtbags, but at that time, if you were 15 and listening to Pantera, chances are you weren’t one of “the cool kids”. ) A little known (at the time) band called Deftones opened the show. Being the hipster that I am, I had already known about them and owned Adrenaline. I must’ve been one of maybe 100 people in the arena who were excited to see them. It was rough going for them. Pantera fans were not interested in buying what the Deftones had to sell and made their disapproval known throughout the set. Still, Chino and company managed to coax a few mosh pits out of the crowd and it was going about as successfully as it could, given their mostly unknown status… Until Chino decided to go crowd surfing. Towards the end of their set, he jumped from the stage and into the crowd. He finished out the song, getting tossed around atop the crowd, occasionally screaming his lyrics into the mic. The song ended and he returned to stage, missing a shoe. “Who stole my fucking shoe?” He says. “Bunch of thieves in here tonight.” He argued with the crowd a little bit, gave them the finger and moved on to the next song. A minute or so later, about 50 feet from the stage, dead center, a sneaker flies through the air, hurtling towards Chino and hits him right upside the head, mid-song. The NY Giants or Jets should have drafted whoever threw that shoe to be their quarterback in ‘96. My man dropped a dime right on Chino’s head in a dark arena. It was an amazing toss and you could hear laughter and cheering throughout the crowd. Deftones finished up and White Zombie took the stage shortly after. Their show was a psychedelic horror trip with crazy video, pyrotechnics and lights. Highly entertaining. The crowd was weirdly subdued, but I guess tormenting the Deftones for 40 minutes drained them a little. Now, for the “relevant” part of this story: Pantera. I was never a huge Pantera fan. I liked Vulgar Display of Power back then, but that was about it: Cowboys from Hell was always cheesy to me and Far Beyond Driven had a few decent tracks, but was grating on the ears after a while. My friend who got the tickets was a fan, though, and at 15 you’re going to go to whatever concerts you can. They were touring “The Great Southern Trendkill” that year, which was a concept record about…the South rising again to kill all false metal (?). I’m projecting a little, but Pantera always kind of had a Lynyrd Skynyrd gone metal vibe to me. However, as we all know, that title actually belongs to Jackyl. A few weeks prior to this show, Phil Anselmo nearly died from a heroin overdose. Technically, he was dead for a few minutes, but was resuscitated. I know this because he made a point of telling the audience about it in between songs and then announced his invincibility, saying “Nothing can kill me!” That was the lesson he took away. Not “maybe I should stop doing heroin” or “man, I’m lucky to be alive”. Nope…”I’m invincible”. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Pantera fans loved it that night, though, and maybe it was all for show…faux bravado for a rabid fanbase. Whatever it was, I felt dumber just having been in the room. I know I took the scenic route to get here and this might be my longest “review” to date, so I’ll touch on Vulgar Display of Power quickly then see myself out. It’s one of the most aptly named albums ever. It’s heavy, aggressive, blunt and lacking sophistication. Is that a bad thing? I don’t know. Pantera isn’t for me at age 40. Phil Anselmo certainly isn’t, either - his antics have only gotten worse over the years. Dimebag was an amazing player and his death was beyond tragic, but that’s where my appreciation of this band starts and ends. This is probably the best Pantera album and it is genre defining, so I think its inclusion here is warranted, but it’s hard for me to reconcile the music with Phil Anselmo’s persona. After all, he’s the one that’s screaming at you for 40 minutes.

Essential album in the evolution of Thrash metal as it grew out of its 80's infancy and continued to spread in the 90's. Anselmo's vocal style over groovy grind riffs are also clear inspiration for Nu-Metal bands that sprang up in the late 90's/early 00's. It's a shame Dimebag was murdered by a whacko, and Phil Anselmo has turned into a real piece of human garbage since the band's dissolution. Big stain on the reputation of a hugely influential band.

Hate this album and this band

Bit much for Mothering Sunday.

Pantera got the name of their album right at least. More about that in the conclusion of my review... I kinda appreciated the first two tracks, and honestly I can see why those two highlights were impressive for a lot of metal fans. When it comes to those sorts of dry guitar riffs, I'm much more of a Helmet fan myself, but the fact that I'm making this comparison here shows that I tried *very hard* to keep an open mind. And I can dig bands in the overall metal tag once in a while (Converge, Mastodon, Korn, Deftones--the latter also produced by Terry Date, by the way). So maybe it was time for me to properly reassess Pantera, decades after their heyday... But then, after those first two good cuts, came "Walk". Which, inexplicably, is Pantera's most played song on Spotify... 🤨 Er... What? Can someone explain to me how a so-called "groove-metal" band can have such a half-assed, lethargic rhythm section, one that's actually so devoid of said... *groove*? Worse, I feel like I have become dumber now that I have gone through Phil Anselmo's inept vocals and lyrics: "RE!!! SPECT!!!! ARE YOU TALKING TO ME???!!!" Er... I don't know... MAY!!! BE!!! PHIL!!!! The mere fact that "Walk" is Pantera's most popular song on a major streaming service shows that Pantera fans and I have nothing in common. What follows this (inexplicably popular) low point can be decent sometimes. There's the sort of Tool rip-off that "This Love" is (minus the interesting time patterns) ; or the nicely upfront and aggressive "Rise". But those decent cuts are mixed with stuff that's often as obnoxious as "Walk" is. See "Fucking Hostile", or, most especially, "Hollow", with its cheesy hair-metal-ballad lengthy intro. That song about a comatose friend ironically manages to be as brain-dead as its subject matter. I don't know if the lyrics of this song refer to real events, so I should probably err on the side of caution here. Yet I would be lying if I said I thought the *music* on it was any good. But there's worse, and that is the incredibly awkward "No Good (Attack The Radical)", right at the center of the tracklisting, and making this album lose a whole point all by itself. I'm not even attempting to describe how ridiculously bad the music is here (see what I wrote about "Walk"). The *real* problem is that Anselmo is unable to articulate any cohesive point about race relations in the US, a subject he wants to tackle here without having anything to say that's interesting or relevant on the matter. After all, no one *asked* him to sing about such a heavy topic in the first place. And reading those lyrics, what I mostly understand is that Anselmo actually had very muddled thoughts on this subject. Which may or may not explain how he sometimes had, well... *moments* on stage that still seem quite suspicious to me. Add the man's dumb public stances about rap music, which were equally suspicious, and you have quite an ugly picture here. Oh, and guitarist Dimebag Darrell was a George Bush enthusiast, I hear... No wonder a lot of listeners, reviewers and even fans felt some Lynyrd Skynyrd overtones in Pantera's music. Those were mostly conveyed through Anselmo's drawl, and I guess that's another aspect that worked in favor of the band, because it gave them a "distinct" identity. But let's face it, such identity didn't age very well, did it? Aaaaah, the South...It's a "different culture", if you take my meaning... About Anselmo and his problematic stances and words--onstage and elsewehere--go online to find out about all that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily saying that Anselmo is a full-blown racist. What I'm merely suggesting here is that he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, as they say. See also the debacle of his relations with the Abbott brothers towards the end of the band's career. That guy never learned to shut his mouth for his own good, that's for sure. Both brothers are dead today, may they rest in peace. One was awfully murdered onstage by a lunatic with a legally purchased gun--another sad layer of irony about the right-wing ideas that Pantera is often associated with. And what's also pretty disturbing about this situation is that Anselmo can now cynically use the Pantera brand to tour with the band's bass player and two other musicians--something that Dimebag Darrell and his brother were dead-set against when they were still alive. So does Anselmo have any shred of decency left in his bones? It's up to you to decide on this. All of this happened decades after *Vulgar Display Of Power* came out, I'll grant you that. But as I have pointed out earlier, what an apt name for this record! And dare I say, one that was also extremely prophetic, foretelling many sad events to come. Sorry, but I can't have any benevolent feelings about this band. There are too many things in their music and history that sound pretty bad. Or just sad. So next, please. Number of albums left to review: 555 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 216 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 104 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 129 (including this one - with a 1/5 grade for the purposes of this list, which means a 6/10 grade for more general purposes: 5 + 1)

Awful. And the cynical ballad track at the end made it even worse.

Music for when you must commit felony assault.

One of the reviews for this album called it “punishing.” Throw in “tedious” and you got my summary.

What's with the shouting? No.

id never listened to entire metal albums before but this was super good. hollow was my favorite track i could listen to this any day

Five stars. Duh. wtf.

first listen, nothing reached out and grabbed me -- TOO loud. Maybe next time. 2-3/5 (there were some pretty good rhythms that I heard, so I'll have to try it again. 3 for now)

The worst

Remembering the cringe of when I set my flip-phone’s ringtone to “FUCKING HOSTILE” in Middle School.

My favorite Pantera album, and easily one of my favorite albums as a teenager. Pantera solidified my love for metal music, this is like listening to history for me.

Stone cold classic

its pantera.

Heavy, powerful, awesome.

Very good!

my uncle used to play metal every day and I hated it but this album made me start to love metal and I'm gonna listen to a ton of metal now. super insane made me wanna riot.

Oui

Love this álbum, one of the best metal bands

Pantera played some of the best gigs I ever went to. As much as Anselmo is a total asshole, these guys rock so hard I can ignore that a while. Love the band, love the album, it makes me want to get up and get aggressive, or dance manically, or both. One of my favourite albums from my favourite time period for music.

Fuck yea.

What a fun listen. I mean, for fans of this stuff. It’s not my favorite Pantera album. That goes to Far Beyond Driven, but this one is a powerhouse in its own right. What a hard hitting, in your face, fuck you if you don’t like me collection of songs. One of the better ones on this list so far!!!

Fucking badass! Proper classic

Bangin

Powerful album that takes me back to my "rebellious" youth. Listening to this album that my friend burned for me with "P-VDOP" written in sharpie in my Discman. Those were the days. Plus, these boys were local to me (DFW, TX area) and are legends here. 5 stars for sure.

RE.........SPECT.......WALK!

Vulgar Display of Power Went in with an open mind and started off quite enjoying it. I’m not a metal aficionado at all but there are some songs in the genre I like. I can sometimes see a world where I get into stuff like this, but then after 3 songs I don’t want to get into it and I want to go home please. This definitely started to drag by the middle and then get quite boring quite quickly after that. I was glad when it was over. Obviously It’s not for me, although I would assume for the genre it is good. A couple of things stood out. I liked the riff on Mouth for War, I liked Walk, that had a kind of groove and felt like a song. Hollow’s first part seemed like a superior version of a metal ballad with a decent tune, before evolving into more standard riffing. There is an earnestness to this type of music that gets quite tiring. If you are really into metal I would guess that you can see the subtleties and nuances in the music, but to me the lack of light and shade drives a sense of monotony and stasis that ends up being frustrating and ultimately very dull. Reluctant to to say 1, its obviously not for me, and I would never listen to it again, but if you are into metal it surely must be a very good album, so I’ll go: ⭐️⭐️

Utter waste of time.

Vulgar display of something

HATE

No.... just no

Yeah, I still don't like heavy metal.

I don't like screaming music, it gave me a headache.

1/10, not my thing

Listening to this album made me realise how good this is. And strangely how much it sometimes sounds like Alice In Chains. But you'll always recognise a Pantera song. Vinnie's drums are unique, Dimebags riffs are masterful and Anselmo's vocals give it just that needed edge. Was about to give it a 4* but re-listening to it again made me aware about how good this album was in its time. And that deserved that extra star, even if it drops off a bit near the end.

Solid hard core metal album. Walk is a classic that hits hard. The album has a good mix of hardcore lyrics and plenty of flowing guitar riffs. Always enjoyed when in the mood. 8.1/10

Not my usual genre, but an ok listen.

This album is intense and in your face. Pantera barks at you. Pretty great record incorporating a lot of styles, excellent guitar work, excellent vocal work. Great band.

Not a metal fan.

Why do they have to destroy interesting music with horrible vocals? The music is interesting enough to me but then you have some horrible vocals just take a massive dump over it. Screamy and annoying.

If you entered "metal" into a stock music service, you'd get something like this back, which one doesn't consider a compliment. "Hollow" and "This Love" have very brief passages of something that might be vaguely redeemable, but well you know where it ends up .... in "Fucking Hostile" territory. In other words, it's the very essence of awful.

oh no it’s metal oh my god are their vocal folds okay?? I’m literally on one volume right now they said SCRELTING I can’t with this it’s almost over I can make it

Could barely bring myself to listen to more than 2 songs of this. This is not and never will be me: for that, I apologise. I will never be able to give an objective review of musicianship within this genre due to my pure distain for it. Resting heart rate 103bpm. Praying the next album will be less panic attack inducing.

Not my thing at all. Gave it a fair chance and a full listen and it’s still not my thing. RIP to Laura’s heart rate.

Not a fan of this type of music

Nope!

Awful

1/5 metal? well sadly no!

No me gusta el metal :/

Hated it. Gave up after 2 songs

Had a terrible time getting this to play in Spotify, and finally got a couple individual songs to play on it. Hated both.

An all time great album that changed music

This landmark album stands among metal's greatest achievements. The foundation of thick, powerful guitar riffs is complemented by a dynamic groove tinged rhythm section. Phil's hardcore-influenced delivery helped pioneer a fresh approach that reinvigorated heavy metal during the dawn of the grunge era.

Awesome

Absolute classic album ! 5 stars no doubt !

Rating: 10/10 One of the greatest metal albums of all time. So damn groovy and heavy.

very good metal album, I understand the accolades. Really like Walk and This Love.

Amazing. Defined an era!!!

One of my favourite metal albums of all time!

Absolute corker of an album. Difficult not to add every single one of these tracks to my playlist (not sure I didn't, actually). Plus, listening to this with lingering mosh pit injuries feels appropriate. I'm just sad I'll never get to listen to Walk for the first time again. Untouchable song

Band sucks since Dimebag died for music/political reasons. Otherwise this record is classic.

I was really surprised at how much I ... what's the word ... not exactly enjoyed ... was dazzled by this album. There's way more aggression and fury packed into these 11 songs than I long for in an LP. I marvel at how relentless this music is. But holy hell, the drumming is a clinic, the guitar playing is an amazing blend of raw speed and precision — and is somehow tastefully done. The vocals blend melody and a sense of song with the barking rant of the genre. But I think it's when the talk-box guitar showed itself that I crossed the line and went for the 5-star. These guys left everything on the field. So, will I go back and listen just for the joy of it? Maybe not the entire album at once, but this is an album outside of my wheelhouse that is worth another go.

I have been known to drive around the block once or twice to hear the rest of a Pantera song before pulling up in my driveway. Those riffs, Dimebag shredding, the shouty man. It's all good, and I am drunk and bouncing off my friends, damaging my hearing in my 20s again. TAKE COVER! Five stars.

An absolute stomper

If you like hard heavy there is nothing here for you to hate. Even if you don’t there is still something to appreciate with the energy and talent that each member delivers especially on guitar and drums.

Great for leg day

Generally don’t like metal. Wasn’t looking forward to this. But holy shit. 5 stars, easy.

It's pretty harsh and harsh. 5/5

fuck nazis... but 9/10. sadly they make good music I guess... fuck.

Este album es un 10/10. Lástima que me dan 0 ganas de escuchar Pantera porque Phil Anselmo es nazi.

Great timing on this one; just visited a group of friends that I haven't seen in maybe 15 years and the group friendship was defined by our love for heavy metal and specifically Pantera. This album deserves a spot on this list solely for having "Walk" on it, arguably one of the most well known true heavy metal songs of all time. It encapsulates everything that is Pantera; it is fiercely intense, provocative, and heavy. It antagonizes, and punches you in the face. Hell yea! My favorite thing about Pantera (and something that is heard throughout this album) is that they aren't just a straightforward heavy metal band. On top of this thrashy southern tough guy sound are these out-of-left-field elements, like Dimebag Darrell's alien screechy yet tasteful guitar solos, or the impossible to implement groove parts ("Live in a Hole") that somehow are worked in by Rex and Vinny, or their more dynamic tracks like "This Love" or "Hollow" where they experiment with clean guitars and a much softer vocal performance by Phil Anselmo. I'm a sucker for granularity when it comes to genres and microgenres in music and specifically for metal. Pantera I most often consider to be some kind of blend of "Southern Thrash Stoner Metal". When I was younger I and all of my friends idolized these guys; Phil Anselmo was the coolest guy ever with his buzzed head, tattoos, cargo shorts, combat boots, and tough guy persona. I can't help but look back fondly and remember how much the personas made the music even cooler. He also probably has my favorite heavy metal voice of all time. Dimebag was the creative genius, guitar savant who was also impossibly the life of the party while also being down to earth. We all envisioned our personalities existing somewhere on the spectrum between those two at opposite ends. One of my favorite tracks from this album is "Rise", which is a brutally tough song that challenges why the world is so hateful with a shockingly positive set of lyrics that contrast the tones and timbres: "We've got no time to lose Your news is old news "Hate this, hate me, hate this" Right approach for the wrong It's time to spread the word Let the voice be heard All of us, one of us, all of us Dominate and take the motherfucking world Mass prediction, unification Breathing life into our lungs Every creed and every kind To give us depth for strength Taught when we're young to hate one another It's time to have a new reign of power Make pride universal so no one gives in Turn our backs on those who oppose Then when confronted, we ask them the question: What's wrong with their mind? What's wrong with your mind?" It's like overwhelmingly positive towards human differences and that people should be proud of these differences and not use them to hate each other. With all of that said, they certainly don’t have the cleanest records as I’ve heard some pretty nasty things that they have said in the news before; so much that I’m not so proud these days to wear the t-shirts just to be on the safe side and avoid any potentially awkward conversations. 5/5, classic record from a classic band. I hope "Cowboys From Hell" is on the list too!

The sound of my teenage years, for sure. Pantera was also my entrance band into more "extreme" music, which evokes a lot of positive memories. I used to love Darrell's creativity, countless number of catchy and heavy riffs and of course Anselmo's voice, both the growl and normal, singing voice. It took a couple years to kind of "grow out" of this band, I seamlessly moved into different genres of music, but one has to admit how influential, and simply good this album was. I would rate higher "Cowboys From Hell" for the simple reason that it was more shocking and unexpected album, but Vulgar Display is still a really solid record. It's a bit harder to listen to it nowadays, but I'm still going to rate it 5/5 for all the memories and pain in my neck.

Is there a better collection of riffs in thrash metal?

This bamd started at the same exact time as Metallica. Rougher and more hardcore they are idolized and this album might be a strong reason why. Metallica was a bit less metal and had catchier music. Much better musicians than Metallica and their piers. These guys were the truest metalheads. This is a gem and a staple of metal history a must have for any rocker.

Very hard metal. I thought I would find it unpleasant, but I did enjoy it. The throbbing bass was very engaging.

Nunca antes a arte da capa de um álbum correspondeu tão bem ao seu conteúdo. Um soco na cara!

Liked it better than I have in the past

got really stuck between giving some albums 4 and 5 because i fee; like 5 stars should be for absolutely perfect albums regardless every song slapped and there wasn't a single one that let it down and what a fuckin closing track and pantera fucks so 5 stars

I hvert fald i top 5 over bedste åbningsnummer på en metalplade! Fyldt med bangers og kun en enkelt filler eller to.

Better than I remember - haven’t listened to the deep tracks off this one in a long time. Heavy as shit and they were still very popular. Maybe I’m getting older and I still love metal, but when I listen to this it just sounds so adolescent. Torn between a 4 and a 5 - sticking with a 5. Pantera kept metal alive during the 90s.

There are few albums that stick out in my mind as a musical waypoint in this journey of life. Vulgar Display of Power is one of them. With its title and cover image it feels like a feature so generic that it would be a running gag in a video game, especially if I wasn't there when it came out, and I didn't witness the virility of Pantera live. This is a perfect encapsulation of a band. Side note, I prefer Cowboys from Hell, but I would never challenge the validity of this album being a necessity.

5 stars. I know this album like the back of my hand. This was the album that got me in to HARD music. I wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music as a kid (I was in a cult), so my cousin and I would go to the basement and huddle around his little tape player with the volume on one and our fingers hovering over the stop button in case his mom opened the basement door. This was the perfect metal album. Cowboys from Hell still had tinges of their hair metal past, but by the time Vulgar dropped all traces of glam were erased and Phil’s growls, grunts and screams are pure aggression.

Pantera came out with this and filled the void that was being left by the transition of bands like Metallica (self-titled 1992) and Slayer (diabulous Musica 1994). These bands were trying to adapt to the changing times but didn't realize there was still plenty of metalheads who wanted loud, fast, and angry. Pantera threw away their hairspray and adopted the machismo attitude and it worked great, Vulgar Display was the first step planted firmly in that direction. Dimebag Darrell's guitar work is unmatched in my opinion, very creative and groovy, not to mention heavy as hell but the real heaviness and machismo attitude is mostly attributable to Phil Anselmo, love him or hate him. Easy five star for me on my curved grading scale, if you want a true 5 star metal album for me check out The Great Southern Trendkill by these guys. One major complaint for me about this album, is the dude's fist doesn't look like he's throwing a very good punch, looks fake, step your game up if you want to be a tough guys.

I listen to this album on a semi-regular basis so I knew my rating from the start. One of the big 4 of the 90’s metal scene, these guys are legends. \m/

I, on the other hand, AM angry enough at the world to enjoy the hell out of this. It's a perfect example of the genre. I'm not always in the mood for speed metal, but when I am, Vulgar Display is at the top of my list.

What a brilliant, strong album! Absolutely love this one!

Hart und direkt, sehr gut

Solid

Great album to listen to while working out

Beautiful. 6/5

Wooooooo. Respect. Walk.

Arrrå!

haven't listened yet

#93. Pantera- it's like thrash, but with anger management issues. This shit is literally just teenage angst in music form. My initial though was to award it 15 stars, but I had to subtract 5 stars for the album cover not being as good as Metal Magic, and then subtract 5 more stars for Phil Anselmo being the way that he is. 5/5: I dunno, but it's hard to give any less than 5 stars to an album I've surely listened to a hundred times or more.

Simply 👍

I am very nostalgic about this album. When I was in high school we used to ride around just blasting it. It’s better than I remember.

Que álbum sensacional! Puro rock de qualidade!