| Vulgar Display of Power | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Pantera | ||||
| Released | February 25, 1992 | |||
| Recorded | 1991, Pantego Sound Studio, Pantego, Texas | |||
| Genre | Groove metal, heavy metal, thrash metal | |||
| Length | 52:42 | |||
| Label | Atco | |||
| Producer | Terry Date | |||
| Pantera chronology | ||||
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Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by heavy metal band Pantera. It was released through Atco Records, on February 25, 1992. It is the last album where Darrell Abbott is credited as "Diamond Darrell". One of the most influential groove metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of Power is said to have played a major role in defining groove metal. 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 album is the band's first to be labeled with a Parental Advisory.
Contents |
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." 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.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (A)[2] |
| Metal Storm | [3] |
| Sputnikmusic | [4] |
| Kerrang! | [5] |
Vulgar Display of Power is regarded as the band's best work. The album has been praised for its influence on the metal genre, paving the way for alternative and nu metal bands such as Korn and Tool. Reviews have been very positive, with Kerrang! and Sputnikmusic both giving the album 4 out of 5 stars, while Metal Storm gave the album 9.5 out of 10 stars. Allmusic also gave the record a near perfect 4.5 out 5 stars (the highest rating given to a Pantera album by Allmusic), with reviewer Steve Huey stating:
"One of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of Power is just what is says: a raw, pulverizing, insanely intense depiction of naked rage and hostility that drains its listeners and pounds them into submission. Even the "ballads," "This Love" and "Hollow," have thunderingly loud, aggressive chorus sections."
IGN named Vulgar Display of Power the 11th most influential heavy metal album of all-time.[7] 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'."
Vulgar Display of Power peaked at #44 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spent a total of 77 weeks on the chart, the most weeks any Pantera album spent on the chart.[8] The album also peaked at #64 on the UK Albums Chart, #69 on the German Chart, and #54 on the Oricon Chart. The album has since gone on to become Pantera's highest selling album, attaining many certifications since its release including Gold, Platinum, and in July 2004, Double Platinum status in the U.S. for a combined total sales of 2,000,000 copies. The album also achieved Platinum status in Australia, Gold status in Canada, and in November 2004, the album achieved Gold status in the U.K. for sales of 100,000. The albums lead single, "Mouth for War", became the bands first song to ever chart, debuting in October of 1992 on the UK Singles Chart and managing to peak at #73. "Mouth for War" also reached #24 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The albums last single "Walk" gave the band their first top 40 U.K. hit when it peaked at #35 in early 1993, but failed to chart in the U.S..
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. It has been listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In October 2011, the album was ranked number four on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992.[9] The album was ranked #1 on Loudwire's Best Metal Album's of the 90's.[10]
To promote the album Pantera hit the road again, visiting Japan for the first time in July 1992 and later performing at the "Monsters of Rock" festival co-headlined by Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath in Italy. It was around this time that Darrell Abbott dropped the nickname "Diamond Darrell" and assumed "Dimebag Darrell", and Rex Brown dropped the pseudonym "Rexx Rocker".
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.[11]
All songs written and composed by Pantera.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| German Albums Chart[12] | 69 |
| UK Album Charts[13] | 64 |
| US Billboard 200[14] | 44 |
| Oricon Chart | 54 |
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S.[15] | Gold | February 9, 1993 | 500,000 |
| U.S.[15] | Platinum | November 7, 1997 | 1,000,000 |
| U.S.[15] | Multi Platinum (2X) | July 7, 2004 | 2,000,000 |
| Canada[16] | Gold | August 24, 1993 | 50,000 |
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