Maps of Music

Power Metal (1988)

Where the lyrics of Power Metal take you, and where it was really made.

After the label told Pantera to sound like Bon Jovi and the band refused, the album came out on the small Metal Magic label with limited promotion and did not chart.

Key places

Pantego Sound, Texas (1988)

Recording site Pantego Sound — The album was recorded and mixed at Pantego Sound in Pantego, Texas. The point uses city-level coordinates for Pantego, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Power Metal: fourth album by the American heavy metal band Pantera
• Released May 1988 through Metal Magic
• Described as a shift toward a heavier direction
• Described as a "bridge" between the band's original glam metal style and the heavier groove metal sound of later work
• Contains influences from speed and thrash metal amid the earlier pop metal style
• Phil Anselmo's vocals have been compared to Judas Priest
• Limited promotion; the album did not chart

Background

• November 1985: tensions between singer Terry Glaze and the band members
• Glaze was given two weeks' notice, then left the group
• Auditions followed; Matt L'Amour (a David Coverdale lookalike) joined in July 1986 and stayed until October
• Original singer Donny Hart returned in November
• Band sought a singer for a heavier style; New Orleans native Phil Anselmo, met on the road, replaced Hart
• This album marks Anselmo's first appearance with the band
• Anselmo changed most of Glaze's lyrics, except "Down Below"

Recording

• Recorded and mixed at Pantego Sound, Pantego, Texas
• Jerry Abbott credited with engineering, remixing and production (except "Proud to Be Loud")
• Mastering by Tom Coyne at Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs, New York City
• "Proud to Be Loud" written and produced by Keel guitarist Marc Ferrari, who also played rhythm guitar on it

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Pantera is an American heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas, in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul.
• The band started as a glam metal act and was originally named Gemini, then Eternity, before settling on Pantera.
• Rex Brown joined on bass in 1982 and Phil Anselmo became vocalist in 1986, forming the best-known lineup.

Members

• The best-known lineup was the Abbott brothers with Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo.
• Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage in December 2004; Vinnie Paul died of heart failure in June 2018.
• Currently the band features Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante.

Career

• The band pioneered and popularized groove metal in the 1990s with Cowboys from Hell (1990) and Vulgar Display of Power (1992).
• Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Pantera disbanded in 2003 and reunited with a new lineup in 2022, touring the world since.
• The band has sold around 20 million records worldwide and received four Grammy nominations.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• LA Weekly called it one of Pantera's best albums, "a solid album of 1980s speed metal"
• Gold Mountain Records executive Danny Goldberg felt that the record was "too heavy"
• With limited promotion, the album did not chart

Reappraisal

• Bradley Torreano at AllMusic gave it 2.5 stars out of 5 in a retrospective review
• AllMusic described it as the culmination of the band's first four hair metal albums
• AllMusic called it "an interesting and transitional early effort from one of the most important metal bands of the '90s"
• AllMusic named the lyrics "the biggest problem"
• AllMusic highlighted Dimebag Darrell's guitar work as one of the more charming elements of the band's early sound

Records

• Did not chart in the US (limited promotion)
• Band kept the album in circulation for fans after release, but not on a major scale
• Atco Records considered reissuing it only if Cowboys from Hell reached three million sales (per Vinnie Paul)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Atco Records considered reissuing the album "if we sell three million of [Cowboys from Hell]", according to Vinnie Paul.
• Drummer Vinnie Paul said the label wanted to change the band's style and make them sound like Bon Jovi; the band refused, so the album was released through Metal Magic.
• Gold Mountain Records, a distributor with MCA, signed the band mainly because of the band's relationship with Marc Ferrari of Keel.
• Marc Ferrari's "Proud to Be Loud" was first intended for Keel's 1987 album, but Keel did not record its own version until Keel VI: Back in Action in 1998.
• In a 2021 UK Eonmusic interview, Rex Brown said the band, including himself, was against reissuing this album and the earlier albums with Glaze.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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