Before they were a brutal powerhouse, but after they had shed the spandex of glam, Pantera had a transition period. First things first. Original singer Terry Glaze didn’t care for the heavier direction Dime and Vin wanted to take the band and quit. In fact, after recruiting singer Phil Anselmo (whom they were already acquainted with), bassist Rex Brown showed minor interest in leaving as well. Rex is a huge fan of glam metal which is what Pantera were with singer Glaze. But sounding like a heavier version of Motley Crue wasn’t enough for the Darrel brothers. They needed something heavier, thicker and more forceful to exemplify their passion for heavy metal. And while they didn’t immediately jump into ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ they did show heavy evolution (a middle ground) with their fourth album ‘Power Metal’. The maverick, lighting in a bottle album released on June 24th, 1988.
So what is the “middle ground”? Essentially it’s NWOBHM. Which is what I always considered being the middle ground between thrash and glam. So it makes perfect sense that Priest and Maiden were the prominent influences. Song’s like ‘Over and Out’ and the title track displayed those influences on full. The album is solid, give or take the ballad ‘Hard Ride’ and Pantera’s cheesiest moment in their career ‘P.S.T. 88’. The latter being lyrically almost as bad as the album cover. The hopeful track on the album, ‘Proud to be Loud’ didn’t end up being the crossover success that the band had hoped. The real shocker on the album though is Phil Anselmo’s voice. Most us know him as the founder of the false chord metal yell. Which would go on to become the most dominant metal vocal style for about 15 years. On ‘Power Metal’ however, he takes on a much more traditional vocal style. One that sounds more like a combination of Lemmy and Rob Halford than a death metal vocalist. There are bits and pieces of this vocal style present on the first major label album ‘Cowboys From Hell’. But you can also hear the direction Phil wanted to go in at the same time. So the only album where you’re going to hear pure, NWOBHM style vocals from the front man is on ‘Power Metal’. The direction was confusing at the time. Not just to the band, but to their manager and father of the Abbott brothers, Jerry. But he worked through the confusion and supported the band no matter what. Which is what led to their eventual world dominance. ‘Power Metal’ is after all the album that convinced major rock and metal promoter Derek Schulman to send one of his scouts to check out the band live, which is where Pantera are in their element the most. I don’t think any studio recording of the band would have gotten them truly noticed. The band had to be experienced live. Their live spectacle (which was one of stripped down fashion mixed with undeniable passion) would result in a major label signing deal at Atco/Elektra records. Thank the metal gods! ‘Power Metal’ may not be the most amazing album ever. But it’s a very solid album and a fucking important album to the evolution and story of heavy metal. Without it, there would be no transition into 90’s metal. We wouldn’t have all the countless bands that followed in Pantera’s footsteps.
Pure fucking power metal. You can hear the transition happening.
Super super catchy speed metal. Excellently produced. Hard to believe it’s an independent record.
This track shows the groove that would go on to dominate the bands 90’s sound. It’s sounds like a hybrid of The Scorpions and 90’s Pantera. Fucking excellent.
