Disturbed vocalist David Draiman recently spoke with Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio about the impact Pantera's 1992 album Vulgar Display Of Power had on him personally. Draiman said Vulgar Display Of Power was essentially the perfect groove metal album, and without it (and Pantera overall), there would be no Disturbed.
"[Pantera] really, I think, [with Vulgar Display Of Power], had honed the whole groove metal thing that they had pioneered; they had gotten it to be so, so perfect. And look, that record was songs we covered, songs we adored, songs that were the soundtrack to many a late-night bit of Sodom and Gomorrah on the bus — all kinds of craziness. There was all kinds of moments that those songs are literally part of the soundtrack to our upbringing.
"A lot of people don't really know this, but I don't think that there would be a Disturbed without Pantera. I mean, the band that was Disturbed before me that used to be called Brawl had a singer by the name of Erich, and he was very much in the Phil Anselmo school. All the stuff that I heard when I went to audition for the Disturbed guys originally was much, much closer to old-school Pantera than it was modern-day Disturbed. And I was not sure I could even complement it properly at the time; I didn't know if my voice could be as ferocious as the music seemed to call for.
"I told Phil this when I saw him — I think the last time I saw Phil was actually in Texas; he was opening up for Danzig with Superjoint, I think, at the time. And I told him that. I'm, like, 'Look, dude. You know it, I know it — I learned so much from you over the course of years.' He looks at me and goes, 'I know.'"
Check out our extensive editorial celebrating the 30th birthday of Vulgar Display Of Power here, and keep an eye out for our hour-long special on the album coming on March 1. You can also check out Brawl's demo below courtesy of some Internet sleuthing by Blabbermouth.
