Revolver teamed with Pantera for limited-edition colored vinyl pressings of the band's classic albums plus a new Pantera collector's issue. Order yours before they're gone!
On February 25th, 1992, Pantera dropped their genre-defining groove-metal magnum opus, Vulgar Display of Power. It shook the foundations of the heavy-music world with crushers like "Mouth for War," "Walk," "A New Level," "Fucking Hostile" and "This Love" — and it continues to resonate to this day as new generations joins the late, great Texas juggernaut's legion of fans. Count among those diehards Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, who recently talked to us about how Pantera and Vulgar hit him "in the fucking chest."
I UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS PANTERA'S VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER THAT REALLY GOT YOU INTO METAL AND ON THAT PATH. WAS THERE A SONG ON THAT RECORD THAT REALLY POINTED THE WAY FOR YOU?
I'm trying to think of a favorite one on there: "Walk," "This Love," "A New Level." They had the pretty stuff and then the heavy shit. Those are the ones off the top of my head. It was so heavy and groovin'. I liked it. The only other band before that got me going like that was Helmet, you know? But that was more of a New York hardcore kind of thing. This was different.
DEFTONES WERE ALSO INSPIRED BY PANTERA AND THEY EVEN ENLISTED THE SAME PRODUCER, TERRY DATE. WAS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THEM THAT WAS SO DIFFERENT THAT REALLY CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND CHINO?
I think it was their guitar tone and the crazy clicky kick drums of Vinnie. Phil's vocals were just so brutal ... just fucking emotional, screaming. And he was just this badass. I remember I saw them live before we were signed. Fieldy took me to Irvine Meadows and the first song, Pantera came out and I looked over and [he] was fucking crying. [Laughs] He was just like, "That is the baddest shit I ever saw!" And I had just goosebumps all over my body. I was like, Holy shit, this is so badass.
I don't think we bit anything from them. It was nothing like that. I respected what they did. It was so good. Same with Sepultura. Those bands hit me in the fucking chest. And then there was shit like Cypress Hill and Ice Cube and all the music at that time — House of Pain. Cypress Hill was probably the biggest influence. It was just this melting pot that inspired us to do this different music.
