Power Metal is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on June 24, 1988, through Metal Magic Records.
The album signals a shift in a heavier direction and has been described as a "bridge" between the band's original glam metal style and the heavier groove metal sound of their subsequent work.
Power Metal contains influences from glam , heavyÃÂ , power , speed and thrash metal , while still retaining sound from the band's two previous releases.
The album's sound, particularly in Phil Anselmo's vocal performance, has been compared to that of Judas Priest.
Guitarist Diamond Darrell performed lead vocals on "P*S*T*88".
"Proud to Be Loud" was written and produced by Keel guitarist Marc Ferrari and was originally intended to appear on their 1987 self-titled album; however, Keel would not record their own version until ' in 1998.
Pantera's version was used as the party song in the theatrical cut of the 2001 film Donnie Darko, credited to "The Dead Green Mummies".
Terry Glaze had originally written some of the band's lyrics. However, Anselmo changed most of them except "Down Below", with an earlier recording of the song appearing on Pantera's third album I Am the Night (1985) crediting Glaze.
As the record was close to being finished with Anselmo on the vocals, the band was brought in with a contract with Gold Mountain Records, one of the distributors with MCA Records, now Universal Music Group, primarily based on the band's relationship with Marc Ferrari of Keel. The album was slated to be released in September 1987.
Gold Mountain Records executive Danny Goldberg felt that the record was "too heavy". Drummer Vinnie Paul stated that the label wanted to "change our style and make us sound like Bon Jovi" which the band refused.
As a result, the band was forced to release the album through Metal Magic. As expected beyond limited promotion and the absence of a major label, the album did not chart.
Atco Records were considering re-issuing the album, "if we sell three million of (Cowboys from Hell)", Paul stated. Furthermore, right after its release, the group still kept Power Metal in circulation for their fans, but not on a major scale.
In a Blabbermouth interview with Phil Anselmo in 2013, when asked about possibly reissuing the album, he replied:
In a UK Eonmusic interview with Rex Brown in 2021, he stated that the band, including himself, was against reissuing the album, alongside the earlier albums with Glaze. Brown asserted that he did not "want to give any credit where it's fuckin' undue," referring to Glaze.
The past four glam albums were not considered a part of their history, and do not appear on any digital streaming service, except the song "Proud to be Loud", was only distributed by Universal, due to its presence on movie titles.
In a retrospective review, Bradley Torreano at AllMusic awarded Power Metal 2.5 stars out of 5, noting it as being the culmination of the band's first four albums of hair metal. He described it as "an interesting and transitional early effort from one of the most important metal bands of the '90s." He criticized the lyrics, remarking that they are "the biggest problem, showing none of the gutter poetry that [Phil] Anselmo would develop through time and instead reflecting a bland interest in all things 'rock'". He went on to highlight Dimebag Darrell's guitar work, calling it "one of the more charming elements of the band's early sound" and that "he was obviously a very talented guitarist even then".
Asking how Anselmo recalled the album's impressions, he said to Revolver:
LA Weekly called it one of Pantera's best albums, "a solid album of 1980s speed metal".
All credits adapted from the original LP.
All credits adapted from the original LP.