Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by American groove metal band Pantera. Released on February 25, 1992, through Atco Records, it was the band's second collaboration with producer Terry Date, after having worked with him on their breakthrough album Cowboys from Hell (1990). The band sought to make an album heavier than Cowboys, particularly motivated by the more commercial sound Metallica had adopted on their self-titled album, which released during the album's recording. It is often considered one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s, with both the album and its songs appearing in best-of lists for the decade and the genre. Several of its tracks have become among the band's best known, such as "Mouth for War", "A New Level", "Walk", "Fucking Hostile", and "This Love". Vulgar Display of Power received an expanded reissue in 2012, including an unreleased track, "Piss".
Background and recording
Pantera's 1990 major label debut, Cowboys from Hell, demonstrated a change in the band's musical direction, from their 1980s material influenced by hard rock and glam metal bands like Van Halen and Kiss to resembling bands like Slayer, Metallica, and Black Sabbath.
In 1991, Pantera returned to Pantego Sound Studio to record Vulgar Display of Power, their second release under Atco. The album was produced by Terry Date, who specializes in the rock and metal genres and had worked with the band on Cowboys from Hell. Date also went on to produce the band's following two albums, Far Beyond Driven (1994) and The Great Southern Trendkill (1996). The band then returned to the studio to continue work on the album. They travelled to New York City to have it mastered at Masterdisk. Although guitarist Darrell Abbott was credited on the album with nickname "Diamond Darrell", during the recording of the album he had dropped that nickname and assumed "Dimebag Darrell" instead, and bassist Rex Brown dropped the pseudonym "Rexx Rocker".
Musical style and lyrics
Drummer Vinnie Paul said that Cowboys from Hell was really close to the "definitive Pantera sound". When Metallica released their self titled album in 1991, Pantera considered it a letdown to fans because they believed Metallica abandoned the thrash metal sound heard on previous albums. Following this tour, the band returned home and found that some friends thought that rock stardom had gone to their heads. (Priest: "If you're the Devil, why not make the straps disappear?". Girl: "That's much too vulgar a display of power, Karras.") 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 Pantera song titles as chapter headings. The book details the incidents leading up to the murder of Dimebag Darrell in 2004.
The album's cover depicts a man being punched in the face and was shot by photographer Brad Guice, who also shot the cover photo for Cowboys from Hell; The band told their label that they wanted "something vulgar, like a dude getting punched". (Rex Brown claiming 32) times to get the right picture. The original album spawned two singles: "Mouth for War" and "Walk", along with a number of EPs featuring remixes of the song, alongside three additional promo singles, "This Love", "Hollow" and "Fucking Hostile". To further promote the album, the Walk EP was released in a handful of European countries, Australia and Japan.
The band also released music videos for "Mouth for War", "This Love" and "Walk", which were included on Vulgar Video and 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell. The music video for "Walk" was shot at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, where the band played the song multiple times to capture live video footage in front of fans. It was the longest-charting album in the band's discography, charting for 78 consecutive weeks at that time. In the beginning of June 2012, the reissue re-entered the Billboard 200 chart at number 88, selling over 9,000 copies, which it has brought to over 2,177,000 copies sold in the US. It also charted for two weeks, bringing its total to 80 weeks. According to Luminate (formerly SoundScan), it has sold 2,350,000 copies domestically as of the end of 2024.
Internationally, the album initially charted in four countries, including number 64 in the UK, number 69 in Germany, and number 56 in Australia. It charted in two additional countries in later years, peaking at number 54 in Japan and number 196 in Belgium. New Zealand, The album's second single, "Walk", marked their first top 40 UK hit when it debuted at number 35 for a period of two weeks in the chart.
Tour and media appearances
To promote the album, Pantera toured with Skid Row and Soundgarden giving them the opportunity to perform in front of a mainstream audience in the United States. After touring with Skid Row the band did a European tour with Megadeth. The band also toured with White Zombie in 1992.
The music videos for singles from the album were played in relatively heavy rotation on MTV. "Walk" and "Mouth for War" were available as downloadable tracks for the video game Rock Band 3. "Walk" was also featured on Madden NFL 10, CSI: NY and Monday Night Football.
"By Demons Be Driven" appears in the 2015 Academy Award-nominated film The Big Short; actor Christian Bale is seen performing along to the song on drums, which he learned for that one scene.
Critical reception
Vulgar Display of Power received critical acclaim upon release. Many critics have praised Darrell's guitar work on the album and use of heavy riffs to set the tone for the album. Reviewers also pointed out the change in Anselmo's vocals from previous releases, with him using deeper growls and powerful vocals to accompany the catchy riffs and aggressive lyrics. Steve Huey of AllMusic rated the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, describing it as "One of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s". Chad Bowar of About.com ranked the album at number one in his list of the "Best Heavy Metal Albums of 1992", stating that "Pantera was head and shoulders above the rest of the field." He also ranked the album second in the "Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1990s" list behind Megadeth's Rust in Peace (1990). In October 2011, the album was ranked number four on Guitar World magazine's list of "The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1992". The album was ranked number one on Loudwires "Top 11 Metal Albums of the 1990s" and their "Top 10 Albums of 1992", and the song "Walk" was ranked number seven in their "10 Catchiest Metal Songs". Loudwire also listed four of the album's songs in their list of the "10 Best Pantera songs", placing "This Love" in seventh, "Mouth for War" in fifth, "Fucking Hostile" in third and "Walk" in first. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Vulgar Display of Power as 10th on their list of "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". In 2022, Guitar World ranked Vulgar Display of Power number one on their list of "The 30 greatest rock guitar albums of 1992". In 2005, Vulgar Display of Power was ranked number 333 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. IGN named Vulgar Display of Power the eleventh most influential heavy metal album ever on their list of the "Top 25 Metal Albums". They wrote the following:
<blockquote>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. Leo Moracchioli, Disturbed, and Breaking Benjamin, among others.
20th anniversary reissue
On May 15, 2012, a two-disc deluxe edition of Vulgar Display of Power was released to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Disc one is a remastered version of the original album along with the song "Piss". The music video for "Piss" debuted at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, on April 11, 2012. The main riff from "Piss" was used in the song "Use My Third Arm" on the band's following record Far Beyond Driven.