Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy sat down with Consequence and named ten albums that influenced his drumming. Among the ten rock and metal albums, there was also Pantera’s ‘Vulgar Display of Power.’
“‘Vulgar Display of Power’ came out around the same time as [Dream Theater’s] ‘Images and Words’ back in 1992. We were actually labelmates at the time,” he revealed. “So, we were working on the same label with the same people. And I remember hearing this when it came out, it just floored me. I was already a fan from ‘Cowboys from Hell’ that came out a year or two earlier, but this took their new sound and style and elevated it to a whole new level. To me, Pantera was the band that kept metal alive in the ’90s.”
“By the time I was coming up with Dream Theater in the early ’90s, thrash was starting to go away, grunge was killing all of us. We were all fighting grunge, whether you were metal or prog or whatever, so Pantera to me was the band that carried the flag. When Metallica was going through their changes and Anthrax were going through their changes, Pantera was carrying the metal flag throughout the ’90s. And I have to give credit to maybe Machine Head and Sepultura, as well” the drummer added.
The drummer made a similar statement back in 2018 about Pantera’s rising fame in the 90s. “And getting back to Vinnie specifically, when I heard ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and ‘Vulgar Display [Of Power],’ it was, like, ‘Okay, this is f*ckin’ great metal drumming.’ I already was listening to Charlie Benante, Dave Lombardo and Lars Ulrich, but by the early ’90s, Vinnie was kind of the next guy in line to carry the torch for the thrash or groove metal movement.”
In a more recent interview, he also shared his thoughts on the reunited Pantera and addressed the naysayers. “I caught the show in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was fricking phenomenal,” the drummer said about one of the recent shows. “I loved it. Absolutely loved it… Charlie and Zakk are absolutely killing it, really. I couldn’t be happier for them. I think all the naysayers that came in this skeptical at the beginning are now kind of eating their words and realizing how badass this is and how important it is, to keep that legacy alive.”
Pantera is scheduled to play at the Aftershock Festival on October 10. After that, they will be going on tour starting on January 21 in Helsinki and ending on February 25 in London, England.