youve seen the kid with glasses get pushed into a locker as it clangs and the bully with a chain wallet and ear piercings and spiky hair forces him to give up his lunch money and then hang him by his overalls on the flag pole outside of school?

Album Rating: 2.0

That's a bit more exaggerated than what I've seen directly, but I've seen kids get shoved down and had to be helped back up, and I've witnessed people calling each other slurs on the playground.

Closest personal experience I have (other than online) is that I had a bully back in the 5th grade that'd always taunt me, then suddenly he'd somehow turn into this nice kid that ended up being an audiophile and he always told me to never buy Beats by Dre. To this day I never have, so there's that.

Album Rating: 2.0

a solid piece of advice

Album Rating: 2.0

yeah, i don't buy open-back headphones in general apart from this one pair of Philips I had for a few years

Album Rating: 1.0

Solid review, pos. It could use a little cleaning up perhaps, but your arguments against this are clear and well-balanced.

I don't think these guys are good at music. However, I could maybe award a modicum of appreciation if the negative connotations / associations weren't so impossible to avoid. Sometimes art wins over artist, even in (more) extreme cases, yet when the overall sound or aesthetic is so unavoidably intertwined such as it is here, it becomes one and the same

Album Rating: 4.0

now we get a full review of the opinion huh



Demon the album is basically a self help guide to music(which is problematic in its own way don't get me wrong), how does it betray nastiness?



Themes are anti bullying, anti religious doctrine, anti racism, building self worth....you can call them ham fisted but if you think the band are the opposite of those principles then this album does not represent them genuinely. Your argument would have to be the opposite.



This is sort of the wholesome Pantera album, the next two are a bit more suspect at times.

Album Rating: 3.0

Really the only thing I respect Pantera for is the guitar skill and it's probably at best display here (love the clean picking on Fucking Hostile for example). But band sucks in general.

Album Rating: 4.5

It seems to me that you've made this album (and band) a symbol of the bullying that you and others around you were subject to. Unfairly, in my opinion.



I gave you a neg, because what you wrote is not a review.

Album Rating: 4.5

By the way: I was also bullied, in primary and in early secondary school. Therefore, I can put myself in your shoes and imagine what it must have been like for you. Don't blame this band or any of their albums for that, but work through it with a therapist. Obviously, you haven't fully processed the bad things that happened to you and therefore it spills out and you project that pain on things that are undeserving of such.

Album Rating: 4.0

The album is about self respect and is anti bullying if anything :/



'Got shit on, pissed on, spit on, stepped on

Fucked with pointed at by lesser men

New life in place of old life

Unscarred by trials'

I think it's very naive to describe Pantera as anti-bullying — they are certainly pro-self-respect and opposed to being bullied, but they propagate exactly the kind of contemptuous tit-for-tat attitude that leads to mutual disrespect and enables a culture of bullying more widely (as I think that excerpt showcases q neatly). Worth remembering that the vast majority of bullies are former victims of bullying (2008 UK study I just pulled up for primary school ages says 90%) and considering how easily this kind of pigheaded aggro bs music can relate to it as a learned behaviour from the receiving end (lovely expo of how those kinds of relationships play out that I remember reading in Judith Butler - The Psychic Life of Power)

tl;dr encouraging victims to violently stand up for themselves =/= taking a stand against bullying as a whole and you'd be foolish to think otherwise

Album Rating: 2.0

pigheaded aggro bs sums up their music nicely

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah all the bullies back in the day listened to Pantera.



Powerlifting and kicking sand in faces down the beach they were when they weren’t driving around in their dad’s truck.



I remember this time when I was pushed into a swimming pool at a party where the bullies turned up and stole all the plastic cups so we couldn’t use the keg while blasting ‘I’m Broken’ It was humiliating.



I thought about revenge and was going to buy a gun and go on a rampage through school but thought fuck it I would channel my energy into positive thinking so joined the Marine Corps.



I have massive muscles now.

Album Rating: 4.0

lol



I always read these lyrics as a bit of an over correction tbh



I think labelling bullies as ‘lesser men’ is the way to go…you want ‘misunderstood’? The band’s image is macho and aggressive so I get that equates to ‘kick some heads in’ but it’s definitely not explicit from the lyrics. Even ‘Walk’ is more ‘get out of my face’ than ‘I’m going to grab a baseball bat’.



I dunno, I totally get this band being locked in the 90s so any interpretation is fine, still worth a spin for me.

Album Rating: 4.0

I lumped it all into the same fake Machismo pile back then, still do in a way.



It’s why Nirvana resonated so much, down trodden, downbeat, confused and fucked off.



Nectar to a young teen

If the themes of the album lean towards self-respect and standing up for yourself, in opposition to bullying and intimidation, then I can see how the delivery of that message can be distasteful to others. It's hyper-masculine, it's violence to combat violence, it's meant to be a brute rather than a soothsayer.

Take something like this and compare it to Graphic Nature's album from this year. That whole album is structured around the lead singer being assaulted on a subway and dealing with the trauma that followed. It's a great example of internalizing such an experience (lots of lyrics about the emotional/mental health impact) whereas Pantera bend towards externalizing which comes off as super machismo.

Album Rating: 4.0

I disagree but respect your decision

Album Rating: 4.5

"The album is about self respect and is anti bullying if anything :/"



You're living in the past Doof. Championing self-improvement and self-defense is super cringe now. It's much more effective to air your dirty laundry on the internet instead. Just look at the statistics.

Not gonna lie, most of this review reads like those news reports claiming violent videogames and heavy metal were the cause for Columbine.

Album Rating: 4.5

Nail on the head