10 Darkest Hard Rock Albums Ever Made

As the '90s wore on, the metal scene didn't really have that much to be proud of anymore. While the thrash scene may have had its stride in the early part of the decade, the alternative revolution led by Kurt Cobain ended up killing off a lot of the goodwill towards all metal music in the process. Even though it made sense for Pantera to tone things down, Vulgar Display of Power is the sonic doubling down that we all wanted to hear.

Fresh off the pummeling from Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar takes every dark aspect of Pantera's sound and pumps it with even more muscle, like on the savage assault of Walk or Mouth For War. Aside from Dimebag Darrell's insane guitar licks throughout, Phil Anselmo feels like he's ready for war on each track, using every song as a means to beat you over the head with each scream.

The closest thing you even get to a ballad on this record like Hollow or This Love are still ominous in their construction, almost sounding like a downtempo version of what Tony Iommi would write in the early days of Sabbath. Metal might be on sturdy ground today, but anyone who even thinks of making something heavy going forward owes Pantera a debt of gratitude.