Vulgar Display of Damage

Pantera could kick your ass three times before you hit the ground, and still have enough time to out drink just about anybody in the club. How exactly does a band live up to that sort of expectations? If you’re guitarist and drummer “Dimebag” Darrell and Vinnie Paul, you recruit a few of your most hardcore friends, mix in a few pints of battery acid and stir vigorously. Following a killing spree of over a decade, Pantera’s internal fallout between group members became awfully apparent as each member decided to pursue individual side projects rather than concentrate on a new Pantera album. That being said, following two releases from Anselmo’s side projects (Down and Superjoint Ritual), brothers Vinne Paul and “Dimebag” Darrell decided to go their own route with New Found Power, the new album from Damageplan.The first thing you’ll notice about this album, aside from the classic Dimebag twangy-yet-soaring and brutally powerful guitar riffs, is the absence of Anselmo’s sometimes annoying and tired screeching. In his replace, we are blessed with Pat Lachman (ex – Halford, Diesel Machine guitarist), a refreshing blend of hardcore screams infused with melody that can take metal music to new heights. The music still remains brutal and uncompromising, conjuring up the fierce, straight-to-the-jugular music of Far Beyond Driven, but infused with actual vocal harmonies here and there. In the end, metal’s most hardcore brothers put together a record as fierce and as strong as any Pantera album.