Review Summary: A New Level of Confidence and Power
Pantera streamlines their sound on Vulgar Display of Power, completely shedding away their glam metal persona. There are no high-pitched vocal lines from frontman Phil Anselmo here. Instead, he favors a more guttural singing/barking tone that helps instill a newfound power emanating from the Abbott brothers.
Vulgar Display of Power contains the definitive Pantera sound and is arguably the first groove metal album in heavy metal history. Cowboys from Hell still had a glam metal sound due to Phil Anselmo's Rob Halford-Esque high pitch screams, but Vulgar Display of Power focuses almost entirely on massive grooves and sheer power.
Vulgar Display of Power is a no-frills metal album through and through. Pounding rhythms, snake-like bass lines that tie the riffs together and keep Diamond (Dimebag) Darrell's guitar solos on track, and powerful vocals are in every song on the album. Even on the slower songs, This Love and Hollow, a brutal and barbaric tone seeps into each, and even those tracks serve up some of the heaviest breakdowns in Pantera's discography up to that point; I see you, Domination, I see you.
