DAMAGEPLAN – New Found Power

Posted: 10/28/04

Reviewed by: Goat

Category: Heavy Metal / Nu-Metal

Released: 2004

Label URL: www.elektra.com

Artist URL: www.damageplan.com

1/2

Pantera fans surely know all about this album, as it features one half of that band’s members, brothers Dimebag Darrell (guitars) and Vinnie Paul (drums), with Pat Lachman filling the vocal slot.  Astute metal heads will recognize the name Pat Lachman as one half of the guitar team for the band Halford (playing alongside Metal Mike), Rob Halford’s short-lived solo project.  “Hold on, wait a minute,” you ask.  “He was the guitarist for Halford?  And now you’re telling me he’s the vocalist for one of the most respected metal guitarists, in a sense ‘replacing’ Phil Anselmo, one of the most respected metal vocalists?  How can this be?”  Well, I’m not too sure either (you can check out the ‘bio’ section of their website for the background story).  What many of you may not be aware of was that during his tenure as one of Halford’s guitarists, Lachman was also the guitarist and backing vocalist for his own band called Diesel Machine, which featured metallic nu-metal.  While that band may not have generated much widespread interest, it apparently caught the ear of Dimebag and Vinnie, and the result of the ensuing partnership is the band Damageplan, which just as easily could have been called ‘Nu-Pantera.’

Whether or not you consider New Found Power a stellar nu-metal success or a miserable Pantera rip off depends on your musical tastes.  Compared to Limp Bizkit, Coal Chamber, and the rest of the hordes of trite and talentless nu-metal bands that keep popping up, NFP is a hands-down winner.  It takes simplistic nu-metal and adds Dimebag’s trademark blues-inspired metal riffs and solos, giving some legitimacy to this tired sub-genre.  This is what all nu-metal could sound like if the bands playing this style would actually practice playing their instruments once in a while.  If nu-metal’s your thing, stop reading and go buy this album.  If you still need more incentive, Corey Taylor from Slipknot makes a guest vocal appearance.  Now go.  Shoo.

If, on the other hand, you’re a Pantera fan, and are hoping for a similar sounding album to console you while you get through their break up, NFP may fall short of your expectations.  Falling into this second category, I had high hopes for the album.  It actually starts off with a bang on “Wake Up,” featuring a brooding guitar intro that launches into an all out assault that makes you wish you could be instantaneously transported into a mosh-pit.  This is the kind of riffing we’ve come to expect from Dimebag, and on this song he doesn’t disappoint.  The rest of the album features tons of Pantera-ish riffs and solos, more than enough to satisfy Pantera fans, at least from a musical standpoint.  Dimebag’s playing is sharp as usual, and while there may not be as many solos as on a Pantera album, the ones that are here are deployed for maximum effectiveness.

And then there are the vocals.  Lachman’s vocals will be the reason you like the album or not.  Since the comparisons to Anselmo are inevitable, let’s get them out in the open: Lachman’s not as good a screamer as Anslemo, but his clear singing voice is far superior.  In other words, you’ll wish Anselmo was screaming the angry parts, but will be pleasantly surprised by the clean vocals.  If Lachman ‘sang’ the entire album instead of ‘screaming’ during half of it, I would have given NFP a ‘5’ axe rating, hands down.  Some songs, like the ultra-aggressive “F**k You,” require Lachman’s angered vocals, and this song works well (in addition to being a lot of fun to sing along with!  Not since Overkill has a band gotten right to the point in a song title).  But a track like “Breathing New Life” is musically too close to being a Pantera song, so the vocals fail, since a Pantera fan will wish it were Anselmo yelling instead of Lachman.  Most of the songs, however, feature Lachman using his entire vocal range, with mixed results.  The songs that showcase Lachman’s clean singing voice, like “Pride,” “Save Me,” and “Blink of an Eye,” are more ‘radio-friendly’ and listenable than anything in Pantera’s catalogue, and feature great songwriting and choruses you never thought would be associated with Dimebag.  But when Lachman adds an angered scream on the bridge sections of “Save Me” and “Blink of an Eye,” you can’t help but think they ruined a good thing.  The acoustic “Soul Bleed” closes the album, and its dark melody and solo, reminiscent of parts of “Cemetery Gates,” “Suicide Note Part I,” and the under-rated “Floods,” lets Lachman really shine.  Interestingly, Zakk Wylde helps Lachman with the backing vocals on this track (as well as contributing the outro solo on "Reborn").

The Bloody Truth:  New Found Power has all the ingredients for a great album: a few full-speed-ahead thrashers, a few chorus-driven commercial songs, some heavy riffing, and Dimebag’s ‘southern trendkilling’ guitar solos.  The use of Patrick Lachman on vocals is both a blessing and a curse, since he falls short of Pantera’s Phil Anslemo as a screamer, but surpasses him as a clean-vocal singer.  Dimebag Darrell, listen up: have Lachman sing instead of scream on the next Damageplan album, and you are sure to have a winner.