Album Review: Pantera - Power Metal (1988)

Coming across an ultra-rare album is one thing, but being able to savor every moment of it is certainly another, especially when what you hear is completely the opposite of what you would have expected otherwise.  I was most fortunate to be able to hear Pantera's very rare and very unknown Power Metal from 1988, their first album to feature Phil Anselmo on vocals.  This "glam metal" album, in my opinion, is the best metal album I have heard in a long time - and that is saying something.  Most people will think it sounds a lot like 1980s Judas Priest, and they would be right.  Just listen to the first track and you can instantly tell, right down to Phil's Halford-esque screaming that would carry on in diluted form into 1990's Cowboys From Hell (an excellent album, I must say).  And the riffs - Dimebag's proficiency with an axe really shines on this record - are at the very pinnacle of 80s metal excellence, and given that Pantera are best known for their 90s work, that is an outstanding achievement.  My picks - all of them really, but play "Power Metal", "P*S*T*88" and "We'll Meet Again" first.  That is, of course, if you can get hold of the album. A+