Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power
Studio album by Pantera
Released	February 25, 1992 (1992-02-25)
Recorded	Pantego Sound Studio, Pantego, Texas
Genre	Groove metal
Length	52:42
Label	Atco
Producer	Terry Date
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Pantera chronology
Cowboys from Hell (1990) Vulgar Display of Power (1992) Far Beyond Driven (1994)

Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by heavy metal band Pantera. It was released through Atco Records, on February 25, 1992.

Album information

One of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of Power is said to have played a major role in defining post-thrash metal, slowing down the tempos and incorporating a harder-edged vocal style. Several songs from this release have become some of the band's best known, such as "Fucking Hostile", "Mouth for War", "This Love", and "Walk", the latter of which reached #35 on the UK Singles Chart.

During the 90s, MTV's Headbangers Ball used excerpts from the album's songs for the show's opening theme, bumpers, and closing theme. Perhaps the most prominent sample is that of Anselmo screaming "hostile," taken from the end of the song "Fucking Hostile". "Rise," "Regular People (Conceit)" and "Mouth for War" were covered by Robert Prince for the first-person shooter computer game Doom, and a cover of "This Love" appeared in Doom II: Hell on Earth.^[1]

The title of the album is from a line in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. When Father Damien Karras asks Regan MacNeil (or the demon who possesses her) to break her own straps and release herself using her evil power, Regan replies 'that's much too vulgar a display of power'.

Philip Anselmo has a tattoo on the back of his neck that says 'ATR', this stands for 'Attack The Radical' which is part of the title for track 7.

In April 2007 the title was used for the book A Vulgar Display of Power: Courage and Carnage at the Alrosa Villa, which includes many song titles to name its chapters. The book details those involved and the details leading up to the murder of Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott. The Abbott family have stated that they are against the book and took no part in its writing. It is the band's first album to earn a Parental Advisory label.

Reception

Vulgar Display of Power peaked at #44 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album achieved Double Platinum status in 2004.

In 2001 Q magazine named it one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All-Time."

IGN named Vulgar Display of Power the 11th most influential heavy metal album of all-time.^[2] They said about the album:

"This album makes the list because it took heavy metal and made it heavier. It took darkness and made it darker. It took anger and made it angrier. Never before had a band tuned down its guitars and crunched a heavier riff than on this album. "Mouth for War" and "A New Level" and "No Good (Attack the Radical)" stand out on an album where every track is a classic track. Dimebag Darrell was an innovator and a true godsend for heavy metal. One of the most underrated players in the genre. And this may sound corny, but the way the band was able to turn seemingly negative aspects of the genre - hate, anger, violence and despair - into positive thoughts is somewhat akin to De La Soul dropping a positive message into rap."

Entertainment Weekly (3/6/92, p.59) - "..one of the most satisfying heavy metal records since Metallica's early-80s cult days...11 caustic songs of unabashed brute force...a fully realized album that goes way beyond metal's usual crunch-and-burn." - Rating: A

Q magazine (7/01, p.90) - "Pantera's new, heavier direction...was succinctly summed up by 'A New Level's sludge-thick chorus and the neck-snapping riffage of bile-flecked hate anthem 'Fucking Hostile'."

Track listing

• All tracks by Pantera.

1. "Mouth for War" – 3:56
2. "A New Level" – 3:57
3. "Walk" – 5:15
4. "Fucking Hostile" – 2:49
5. "This Love" – 6:32
6. "Rise" – 4:36
7. "No Good (Attack the Radical)" – 4:50
8. "Live in a Hole" – 4:59
9. "Regular People (Conceit)" – 5:27
10. "By Demons Be Driven" – 4:39
11. "Hollow" – 5:45

Personnel

• Pantera – Arranger, Producer
• Terry Date – Producer, Engineer, Mixing
• Phil Anselmo - Lead Vocals
• Diamond Darrell – Guitar
• Rex Brown – Bass
• Vinnie Paul - Drums
• Produced & Engineered & Mixed by Terry Date and Vinnie Paul.
• Co-produced by Pantera
• Recorded and mixed at Pantego Sound Studio, Pantego, Texas (R.I.P.).
• Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York City.
• A&R coordination: Derk Oliver.
• Cover photo: Brad Guice.
• Band photography: Joe Giron.
• Art direction: Bob Defrin.
• Design: Larry Freemantle

Chart positions

References