A New Level

Album: Vulgar Display Of Power (1992)
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Songfacts®:

  • In our interview with Pantera lead singer Phil Anselmo, he called this "The ultimate chip-on-your-shoulder type song."

    A call for confidence and unity, the driving rocker reflects not just a resurgence for the band, but also for the metal scene, as they take it to a new level. Pantera backed up the bravado, as the Vulgar Display Of Power album sold over two million copies in the US and earned them a reputation as one of the top acts in the genre.
  • This song was crafted to Pantera's high-energy live show. "We definitely wanted to make a statement musically that would coincide with this live show that we had - the energy that we were putting out there," Anselmo told us.
  • The line, "Vulgar... power" provided the album title. It comes from the movie The Exorcist, where the little girl possessed by the Devil explains that she doesn't make her restraints disappear because it would be "much too vulgar a display of power."
  • In 2015, Guitar World placed guitarist Dime Bag Darrell's solo at #5 on its list of greatest wah solos of all time, citing his surgically precise use of the pedal.

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