Bearing this in mind, it was MTV’s acceptance of their videos that went a long way to breaking the band. For fans of heavier matter, the arrival of Pantera’s new, more brutal metallic approach couldn’t have come at a more apt time. Yet in the early 90s, the big thrash pioneers like Metallica, Megadeth and even Slayer had become more mainstream in sound. Cowboys From Hell was closer in spirit to the thrash-metal sound which had slowly moved to the fore in metal. Whether you're a sucker for grunge or love old-school pop-punk, these ’90s albums are so good front to back, there are no skips on the whole record. This is, perhaps, why things took a while to take off for the band. Vulgar Display Of Power is very much, from start to finish, an unrelentingly heavy album. There’s little to say about Fucking Hostile not relayed by the song’s title, and even when they drop the tempo, on the likes of Hollow and This Love, there’s an almost insidious heaviness to the band’s overall sound. River Runs Red (1993) This Brooklyn quartet took the hardcore blueprint and added a layer of groove metal to put out one of the most mature debut albums of the ’90s.
Opening with the abrasively impressive Mouth For War, and delivering a second knock-out punch with Walk (the first metal single to debut at number one on the US charts), this is Pantera’s songwriting at its most impressive. This proved to be a winning formula for the band. Diamond Darrell (it would be his last appearance as Diamond, opting for the decidedly less glam ‘Dimebag’ after this album) churns out an even heavier selection of downtuned riffs, while Phil Anselmo drops the more histrionic vocals in favour of an overall hardcore style.
#Best 90s metal albums Patch#
If Cowboys From Hell surprised anyone who had been aware of the hair metal line-up of Pantera, then the following Vulgar Display Of Power certainly laid to rest their 1980s ghosts. Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the ’90s showrunner The ’90s were one of the most fascinating decades in rock and metal, widening the gap between the two genres and putting fans on opposing sides, either clinging to their denim patch vests or trading them in for flannel shirts.