damageplan - new found power
when phil anselmo finally admitted publicly that he had no intention of recording a new pantera album despite saying otherwise for the previous three years, founding members dimebag darrell and vince paul were left high and dry with a lot of time on their hands. and judging by their debut (they are joined by ex-halford guitarist patrick lachman on vocals and new bassist bobzilla) they have been using that time wisely. because if anyone thought that the first killer record to come out of the ex-pantera camp would be by anselmo’s band superjoint ritual, they would be wrong. free from his rigid strictures (the frontman had tunnel vision when it came to the band: they would play hardcore thrash and nothing else) they have had the luxury of being able to release one of the most interesting and yet still fearsomely heavy albums of recent years. the potential single, ‘save me’ is the most commercial on the release and deals with vince and darrell’s depression after finding out third hand about the demise of their former band. but this album mainly shows how they have channelled their anger with anselmo into creating a progressive album. the hardcore track ‘fuck you’, for example, needs little explanation. this album takes the pantera grind core blueprint and explodes it adding nin style industrial flourishes and more complex and dark song writing, worthy of the deftones. anselmo is going to have to pull something magnificent out of the bag to top this righteously angry disc.
(reviewed by john doran)