A shout out to fab axemaster Dimebag Darrell, killed senselessly in the Ohio club shootout this week. I never heard the newer stuff in their catalog because, frankly, I got bored with thrash metal, but Pantera's first two albums seethed with a seedy southern rock/punk edge; those discs were very good. "Walk," off Vulgar Display of Power, was the first thrash metal song Cha got into. She loves that tune, and authentically bangs her head when she plays it, screaming at the top of her lungs. It features a tough blues riff that descends into a hectic surreal time-signature stew during Dimebag's eye-socket gouging solo. "Fucking Hostile" is a great track for motivation during a set of 21s when your biceps are blasted beyond all usefulness and you need a little help through the last rep.
Sad, and fucking bullshit. Especially when I see these whiney cookie-cutter bands on MTV when I'm channel surfing. "Look at me, I'm up on top of a crane at a harbor singing about how I'm suffering from angst, and my music sounds exactly like the preceeding video, and exactly like the video you're about to see."
2 comments:
Greetings--I listened to Vulgar Display today. Some fine guitar work made all the more poignant by recent events.
They definitely kicked ass! Takes me back to my longhair days.
I heard Far Beyond Driven a few times when it first came out--that was heavy stuff, very crunchy and dark. Around that time I was moving away from metal, so I never really got too into it.
I still listen to old Pantera and Slayer on occasion, though.
Post a Comment