5. Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power (1992)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkFqg5wAuFk Before Pantera became the flag-bearer for beer-swilling pickup truck metal, the band spent years in the misguided leatherette grip of glam metal - falsetto vocals, fiddly guitar solos, big teased hair, the lot. By the time Vulgar Display Of Power showed up and promptly smashed the teeth out of our heads, not a trace of their sparkly but questionable past was to be found. The transformation was complete. Forgoing pretentious complexity for straight forward heaviness, Pantera was effectively reborn with this curb-stomp of an album. Heavier things were still to come, but Vulgar Display Of Power was the juncture where controlled power, form, and jaw-breaking thrashiness collided best for the band. By now Phil Anselmo had completely shed the falsetto glam style that he inherited when joining the band, setting a benchmark for aggressive metal vocals. The groove-laden southern style of 1990s Cowboys From Hell was intact but free of any shadows of glam silliness, instead honouring us with evergreen metal anthems like Walk and F*cking Hostile to bang our heads to for years to come.
Henry Dowling
Contributor
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
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