I recently gave listen multiple listens after the Groove Metal O Dome and the 1994 conversations.

It definitely feels like the peak of a very specific kind of metal. Musically it’s pretty great, the whole gutter poet lyrics really feel uncomfortable in spots…

Anselmo being a fucking Nazi dickhead is a slight negative.

RIP Dimebag, there’s some absolutely killer riffs on this record.

Oh… and the ludicrous kick hammers with coins taped to them.

Very important band/record for me when I was 15. One of the very first cd's I purchased. Good times.

Hadn't listened to it since then. Production is a bit dated IMHo.

NC but to be honest I enjoyed Cowboys from hell more.

Anyway, I just don't care for that band since my teens.

scratches that itch.

I haven't heard it in years, but it's better than Vulgar. I prefer Cowboys From Hell. Say what you will of Pantera, but they got progressively harder.

The Abbott brothers may have been assholes, but this fake Pantera without them is heinous.

Not my thing, though won't call it crap. No vote.

CRAP. Metal stripped off all its otherwordly dorkiness and streamlined into this muscular, benchpressing jock-stomp that has more *spiritually* in coomon with Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front than Judas Priest and Sabbath (or Slayer for that matter).

I too find Cowboys... their "best" with its oddball mixture of time-period thrash and sleazy; almost Aerosmith and Van Halen type airhead vibes. Not really a fan of that one either though...

I prefer the genuinely fractured and bleak The Great Southern Trendkill but I'll bat for FBD sure.

Listening back now. "Slaughtered" is decent and "I'm Broken" has a cool solo. But this is some boring shit.

CRAP.

So the HUGE advancement they made here was employing their steller musicianship to maximise their rhythmic impact while still retaining the song composition / riff composition from their mersh rock beginnings.

The end result is so intense - so, so intense - that it functions as a hardcore influenced extreme metal album despite still being a rock record underneath. That's the genius at play: they pushed the aggression and technique WITHOUT neglecting the fundamentals.

Amazing riffs (the technique and groove Dime brings here is as good as it gets), amazing playing, great lyrics (Phil was always a great singer and frontman, but this is the point where he blossomed as a lyricist, he's very underrated on that front, IMO).

I'm not 100% sure if it's my favourite Pantera album (I can rarely make it through in one sitting) but I do think it's the MOST Pantera album. Ya follow?

But yeah, N.C.