PANTERA
When Texas thrash juggernauts Pantera get down to blows, it's a
strictly heavyweight affair. Pantera pummels the crowd with the hard-
est of mercenary metal like a rough-shod pack of amphetamine-
crazed cowboys. "Sure, there's a lot of bands that deliver on record,
but show me a band that puts out like we do live, that just delivers like
no one," says drummer Vinnie Paul who formed the band with his
younger brother Diamond Darrell (real last name: Abbott) when the
two were in their teens. Their latest album, A Vulgar Display Of
Power, is a bold, brash step beyond 1990's Cowboys From Hell, a
virulent but relatively straightforward thrashing the band (including
bassist Rex Brown and New Orleans native singer Phil Anselmo, who
hooked up with Pantera in 1987) considers their first real album.
Imagine Black Flag jamming with Metallica and you'll get the picture.
Says Phil, "We all know what's heavy, but we let people know what's
very heavy. We're more influenced by elements that aren't so fuckin'
standard in metal today. It's all either fast or slow, but it's never really.
really slow, like the old Swans were slow."
Like a champion prize fighter, Pantera know that they've got to earn
their audiences respect and carry that ethos to each gig. It's also a
personal matter, one that pushes the feral frontman through every
high-burn performance. "Respect is everything. Without it, you're
nothing," says Phil, the side of his head tattooed with the word
"Strength," his thick arms scarred with legends like "Body & Blood,
Joy & Pain, Life & Death." Ask Phil about his onstage attack and he'll
sum it up in one word: honesty. "A lot of it's got to do with growing up.
Home was weird. My parents were too young and definitely not ready
when they had me. I never had all the adornment, the presents, the
birthday parties and all that shit. I never missed any of that. My dad
was never realy a dad to me-we smoked weed together, we drank
together. He made me a lot more streetwise, a lot more aware of
what's real. My parents weren't these manufactured images, they
were real people with real big problems. People who admitted they
had problems with cocaine or that they were in pain. That sense of
reality gave me an edge in life. When I go out there and play, I bring
that honesty with me. That everyday honesty and anger that every-
one has whether people want to hear it or not."
-Mike Gitter
www.ROCK
RIP
TOMBSTONE RADIO
IN
PEACE
TRAMPS
NEW FREE
ALBUM
tombstone
radio
WITH YOUR PAID
SUBSCRIPTION
ΤΟ
"Intenacious, interesting/reaving fats from corporal griskin," dreadlocked
singer/bassist Jeff Walker of Liverpool's Carcass howls on their latest foray
of psycho pathology "Incarnated Solvent Abuse," off the dubiously titled
album Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious.
Formed in 1985, Carcass didn't seriously get down to business until
1987, due to guitarist Bill Steer's stint with fellow grinders Napalm Death,
and drummer Ken Owen's college commitments. 1987 saw the release of
their first Lp, Reek of Putrefaction, with its collage cover of mutated human
body parts and charming songs such as "Genital Grinder" and "Vomited
Anal Tract. The cover artwork was so shocking that some stores refused
to stock it after a clerk, unpacking the records, disgorged matter and had to
be treated for shock. "We set out to create the most extreme album of all
time," says bassist Jeff, "and in a bizarre and crazy way, we did."
"We created a monstrosity," adds guitarist Ball Steer, "with horrible sound-
ing songs, horrible looking artwork and even horrible production."
Symphonies of Sickness, Carcass' second album, was a real break-
through for the band with more experience in recording studios and better
time spent developing their songwriting. Carcass came out with an Lp that
for the first time was something they were happy with, sound-wise. A twist-
ed hybrid of frantic grindcore and heavy metal butchery, their third Lp.
Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious, is their most perfected work,
culminating everything they learnt from Reek and Symphonies.
"To be honest," states guitarist Bill Steer, "I feel that we're still on the
same track as we were with our first album. Necroticism is the kind of Lp
we would have made two years ago, if only we'd known how."
Lyrically, Carcass have always
required a complete medical text
book library to understand: "Salutif-
erous exaltation, through fusty
splatterings I sift/cauterizing proud
"Salutiferous
exaltation,
flesh, pyogenic cortex I just yearn to through fusty
rip, with impalpable, cathartic tools,
dilapidated lusts I gratify-Forensic
Clinicism/The Sanguine Article
splatterings
Bassist/wailer Jeff claims, "The whole thing
started as a reaction against death metal bands or
I sift."
whoever, who were really inarticulate and used really basic language. We
wanted to make our lyrics a lot more real and interesting
"Carcass is a band full of paradoxes," says guitarist Bill. "With the
music, we try to catch the impossible, sophisticated brutality, to have a
completely intense effect on people. Our challenge is to innovate and i
change in the restrictive area of our genre."
Carcass are not for the faint-hearted. You have been warned.
-A
CARCASS
58 THA
1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: U.S. $12/CANADA $26/FOREIGN $35
SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER (U.S. FUNDS ONLY) PAYABLE TO
THRASHER MAGAZINE, PO. BOX 884570, S.F., CA 94188-4570
Name (please print)
Address
Telephone Number
City
Zip
Amount Enclosed
OCHECK MONEY ORDER VISA MASTERCARD
Credit Card No.
Expiration Date
Signature as it appears on card
(Please allow 8-10 weeks for processing)
100 CASSETTES COURTESY OF CARGO RECORDS
Offer limited to first 100 subscribers with this coupon only
DREAM
@
39