Pantera - Walk

Pantera is...well, they’re fucking Pantera, dude, I don’t know what else to say. Pantera sits among the pantheon of the Metal Gods and with good reason. The quartet, consisting of Vinnie Paul (drums), Dimebag Darrell (guitar), Phil Anselmo (vocals), and Rex Brown (bass), came blasting out of Texas in the 80s. Their first three albums, pre-Anselmo, are a bit different than their subsequent records, but 1988’s Power Metal began their string of heavier, thrashier, and harder albums, followed by Cowboys From Hell, and Vulgar Display of Power.

This week’s pick is off Pantera’s sixth album, Vulgar Display of Power, and it’s Walk, a metal anthem. It’s brooding, seething, creeping, and sinister sound is a thing of beauty, and the song projects a threatening atmosphere of anger-fueled violence. Walk isn’t the fastest or most technical song; it’s not complex or complicated. It’s simple, brutal, and metal as hell.