The Abbott brothers Dimbag Darrell and Vinnie Paul who were former members of the world-known ¨Pantera¨ went on to form a new band, that band was namned in the beginning New Found Power but they changed the name into ¨Damageplan¨. With the frontman Patrick Lachman who is a former guitarist and band member of bands like ¨Halford¨, ¨Diesel Machine¨ and ¨Gargoyle¨ plus bassist Bob Zilla. ¨Damageplan¨ sounds a bit like a ¨Pantera¨ copy to me, the style is basically so-called aggro-thrash but they have mixed some death and a bit of grunge in their material on this album.
This was one of the last projects the Abbott brothers was working with until the tragic event when Dimebag Darrell was brutaly shot in december 8, 2004 during a live performance in Coloumbus, Ohio. The motive of the gunman who was shot by a nearby police officer will never to be known, but according to facts and media the gunman was mentally ill and wanted to revenge on the band or something like that (remember, this is the facts that I have found). The gunman shot Dimebag and killed three others.
We move now on the band members, we start with frontman Patrick Lachman. A very good vocalist, he sounds a bit similar to Philip Anselmo except that Lachman is a bit 'weaker' compared to the mighty Anselmo. Lachman sings very dark and aggressive, he does also sing pretty good with he uses his calmer vocals, in the song ¨Soul Bleed¨ for example. And now we continue with our missing metal-guitarist Dimebag Darrell, known for his amazing guitar work when he was playing in ¨Pantera¨. The guitar work does not sound exactly like in the ¨Pantera¨ material, the riffing is still heavy, catchy and variating. The EQ in Dimebag's guitar sounds more 'neutral' and more regular but it is still very enjoying to listen to. We have the bassist Bob Zilla, not a very good bassist to my ears though, the bass in pretty loud and clear in the tracks and there are also some bass intros and filler sections. The only thing I don't like about the bass is the low tuning, it disappears in the guitars sometimes. And now we come to Vinnie Paul, brother to Dimebag and also a former member of ¨Pantera¨. I would not say that the drum work is great in this album, he is a great drummer but the drumming on this album feels a bit flat sometimes. There is of course some very heavy beats and a big variety of drum patterns but the drumming does not have so much energy to my ears.
Prepare yourself because there is fourteen songs in this album so I will begin with the first seven ones and here we go. ¨Wake Up¨ starts with some spooky guitars and sound effects, the song later bursts into a heavy and pulsing medium paced song. Lachman starts to sing and he does it very good, you can hear the instruments very good. The song is not so catchy because of the bumpy song structure, it is pretty gallopping, it is both slow and the a bit faster. ¨Breathing New Life¨ starts of with fast and heavy drumming along with slow power-chords I guess. The song slows down a bit and Lachman is 'wispering', the his vocals transforms to almost Anslemo-style. The chorus is very heavy but not so catchy, but this song is great because of the great singing and heavy drumming. The only thing that drags down this song a bit would be the chorus. there is also a pretty wicked solo here also. ¨New Found Power¨ begins with slow shredding, later some cool double-bass drumming enters, Lachman starts to sing and the song is loose. Lachman shows you once again that he can sing and Dimebag rips off another cool solo, great song. ¨Pride¨ begins with song calm semi-acoustics that sounds a bit futuristic, the guitars soon changes to more heavier riffing but they are not catchy and so is the drumming. It sounds like the song has trouble with its tempo, the singing is calm at the beginning and later gets a bit higher. The song later changes to an even heavier phase with muted riffing and more amazing soloing, the song turns then back to normal.
¨F*** You¨ starts with some quite chaotic 'riff-soloing', the song later transforms into a fast and brutal almost death-metal based song. The vocals are very brutal and that will say very dark vocals and some deep growls. The song also switches phase here with another fast drum pattern, crazy soloing and fast background shredding, a very brutal song which is pretty catchy. ¨Reborn¨ starts with heavy drumbeats and 'falling' riffs, the song is very heavy and very variating. The vocals are also pretty variating because Lachman sings both he calmer vocals and his more pissed-off vocals plus some growls. The song has a quite repeating song structure so it might be boring after a while, the guitar solo is once again quite high-pitched and chaotic. ¨Explode¨ starts with some heavy fast drum beats and un-catchy riffing, the song structure feels a bit wierd and the vocals is not the greatest. Lachman sings first pretty quiet and then he screams the track-title, not a highlight song though. Now its time for a break, have some more coffee or visit the bathroom because there is seven more songs to go.
Are you ready then? We continue with a more catchier song and it is called ¨Save Me¨. The song begins with catchy drum work but the guitars feels a bit boring though. The chorus has is pretty melodic and it feels quite solid, the guitar sounds a bit better when the song has been played a while, the shredding is catchier and more enjoyable, there is also some muted notes and pretty good half-melodic solo. ¨Cold Blooded¨ begins with more bumpy guitars and drumming, the vocals is very raspy in the beginning but the become more normal after a while. The song is not so catchy because of the suddenly stopping guitars, there is not a good flow in this song. ¨Crawl¨ begins with a heavy intro made by the bass, but it is so low-tuned that you need to turn up your stereo to hear it. The riffing is pretty catchy and so is the rhythm sections. The chorus feels pretty thrashy because of the fast Slayer-drumming, the song has a small, short and calm section with very melodic guitars that sounds awesome, the vocals are also pretty calm. Then the song goes back to its normal pace. ¨Blink Of An Eye¨ starts with some wierd and spooky guitar sounds, the song later gets more sound and structure. The song feels a bit melodic and the vocals is pretty calm compared to the previous track, the riffing is variating and the drums are good.
¨Blunt Force Trauma¨ is my favorite song, it starts with up-rising guitars along with high-hat tapping, there is also some wierd background noise that sounds like industry sounds. The song is catchy and very heavy, the vocals is variating, the best part is when Lachman screams: ¨ BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO YOUR HEAD!¨. Moment Of Truth¨ begins with bursts of drumming and guitars shredds, then the song gets into slow-mode. The song is very slow all the time and that makes the song pretty boring, the guitar solo is once again pretty chaotic but yet played with skill. ¨Soul Bleed¨ is the last song and this is a ballad based on acoustic guitars. This ballad is not so good though, the vocals is mostly wailing, otherwise the vocals is very calm. The song is not so catchy and the guitars feels a bit flat but the guitar solo sounds very good, almost similar to the ¨Pantera¨ cover of Planet Caravan.
Finished at last, I was not so surprised by this album by after listening to ¨Pantera¨ a couple of times before, but I thought that this album was pretty calm compared to what the Abbott brothers are capable of doing, this album was very good but not a great one. There was plenty of heavy riffing, brutal vocals and variating drum work in most of the songs, the only thing I was a bit disappointed about was the lack of speed and catchiness in the material. If some songs had a better and faster flow along with some faster and more variated shredding it would've sound perfect but that is my opinion. If you liked ¨Pantera¨ then you would check this album out, I will also recommend it to thrashers and death-metal fans also because I think we should at least pay our respects for the now past away Dimebag Darrell.
R.I.P Dimebag Darrell, 1966-2004
PROS
+ Very strong and powerful vocals from Patrick Lachman
+ Good variety amongst the songs
+ The balance between the intruments is very good
+ The material is very heavy in its sound
CONS
- Most songs seems to be based more on heaviness and not speed
- Some songs may be very boring after a while
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
-- Crawl
-- Reborn
-- Blunt Force Trauma
-- F*** You
The overall album rating will be: 3.5/5 (yet still very close to a 4/5)
