There’s a certain kind of New York record that feels like it came up under busted lighting and sharp instincts, the kind that understands the city as a mix of cut-rate epiphanies, failed love affairs, and someone dancing past their limit in a room with a leaking ceiling. Darling Black, aka Dylan Hundley, belongs to that tradition with a smart, dirty smile: her debut LP Darling Blackcarries the downtown clatter of post-punk, early electronica, electroclash, goth pulse, and industrial throb into something personal enough to feel lived in and loose enough to keep moving.
Hundley has already done time in the cultural trenches as the lead singer of Lulu Lewis, host of Radar on The Vinyl District, and curator of Salon Lulu, a roving New York art-and-music congregation haunting the Lower East Side. If her name sounds familiar, you must be a fan of cult favourite film Metropolitan. You can hear all of that traffic, and Hundley’s boundless creativity, in this delightfully strange, hypnotic record. It has the ears of somebody who has spent years around artists, weirdos, lifers, and glam casualties. As Darling Black, Dylan previously released the EPIt Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This in 2020 and several singles on the road to this album, and the full-length finally feels like the moment when all those impulses lock together and start throwing elbows.
8th and Alvarado is billed as urban dance punk, and that tag fits because the thing struts in wearing city dust and nightclub lipstick. It has that clipped, caffeinated forward motion that makes you want to spill your drink while pointing at the speakers. The Champagne remix by Youth opens it up for a bigger dancefloor without sanding off its bite, taking the original’s raw motor and giving it enough air to ricochet across a festival field. Same trouble, larger room.
Across the album, Hundley moves through goth, dance, electronic, industrial, minimal machine music, and full-on synthpop with the kind of appetite that suggests she likes records as events, not polite little mood parcels. The covers help tell the story: the John Cale penned/Bauhaus classic Rosegarden Funeral of Sores and Yoko Ono’s Walking On Thin Ice are not picked for prestige; they feel chosen because they belong to the same crooked family tree. Elsewhere, you can catch echoes of Kraftwerk, Polyrock, Ladytron, Fad Gadget, The Normal, and Talking Heads, especially in Dial, where rhythmic repetition gets worked like a nervous tic until it turns sexy.
The songs on Darling Black run through these spectrums and also offer a commentary on today’s world, and that range gets summed up best by Hundley herself: “I have always been drawn to the dynamic elements that live in the spectrums between joy and rage, light and dark, dancing and crying,” she says. “I enjoy exploring this range in my writing and as a performer. It is simply where my instincts take me. Not everything that is beautiful is all that, nor is all horror.”
That swing is the whole show, and it’s a hell of a ride.
Listen to Darling Black below and order the album here. Check out the Champagne remix by Youth here!
Darling Black will be heading to London and Berlin in April, making appearances with Youth and Lene Lovich. Catch her live!
April 17, 2026 — Christabel’s, London, UK (Hosted by Youth)
April 24–25, 2026 — Wild at Heart, Berlin, DE (Supporting Lene Lovich)
Pantera albums ranked is a list most people get wrong before they start, because they only count five. The band made nine studio albums between 1983 and 2000. Four came out on their own label before anybody outside Texas was paying attention, three of those with Terry Glaze singing instead of Phil Anselmo, and the band’s own box set of the complete studio albums starts in 1990 as if the eighties never happened. This ranking includes all nine, worst to best. And the one that debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 doesn’t finish first.
That box set, The Complete Studio Albums 1990–2000, tells you how Pantera wanted to be remembered. I get it. The picture-disc set is five records that changed metal, and nobody puts together a victory lap that starts with the spandex years.
But if you want to understand how four guys from Arlington, Texas ended up writing the rulebook for nineties metal, you have to hear where they started. The distance between the first album and the fifth is the whole story.
Here’s how I judged them: the songs, what each record did to metal when it landed, and what it does to you on a listen today. Chart positions count for less than you’d think.
9. Metal Magic (1983)
Every band starts somewhere. Pantera started here, and it’s rough.
Metal Magic came out on the band’s own label, also called Metal Magic, produced by Jerry Abbott, a country songwriter and producer who also happened to be Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell’s father. It was cut at Pantego Sound in Pantego, Texas, with Terry Glaze on vocals and a teenage guitar player still calling himself Diamond Darrell. By Vinnie’s own count it had sold around 5,000 copies by 1990.
It sounds like what it is: a young Texas hard rock band in love with Kiss and Van Halen, doing a decent impression of both. There’s no groove yet, no menace, nothing that tells you what was coming.
The reason to hear it anyway is Darrell. Even here, surrounded by songs that go nowhere, the kid can play, and you can hear the Van Halen worship that later got twisted into something much nastier. If you want to know how he got there, start with the things most people don’t know about Dimebag Darrell.
It’s last because it’s the only Pantera album that sounds like it could have been made by anyone.
8. Projects in the Jungle (1984)
A year later, the band had clearly been listening to Judas Priest.
Projects in the Jungle is heavier and more confident than the debut, with the glam edges filed down and the riffs pushed forward. Glaze is still singing and still sounds like a hard rock frontman, and the songwriting still leans on what was working for other people. But this is the first record where Pantera sound like a metal band rather than a rock band that turned up the gain.
Eighth because the step forward is real and the album is still mostly a band finding its feet in public.
7. I Am the Night (1985)
The heaviest and best of the three Terry Glaze records, and the end of that version of Pantera.
By I Am the Night the band were playing faster and meaner, and you can start to hear the rhythm section that later became the most feared in metal. Vinnie Paul’s drumming has a weight here that the first two albums don’t, and the riffs have stopped trying to be catchy first.
It still isn’t the Pantera anybody means when they say the name. But play it next to Metal Magic and the jump in two years is startling. Glaze left after this one, and the band went looking for a singer who could match where the music was heading.
6. Power Metal (1988)
This is the hinge the whole story swings on.
Power Metal is the first Pantera album with Phil Anselmo, and he sounds nothing like the guy who’d growl through Vulgar Display four years later. Here he’s hitting high notes in a Rob Halford mould over riffs that are all speed and power metal, which is exactly what the title promises. It’s the last album the band released themselves, and the last one before they burned the whole look down.
It’s the best of the independent four because you can hear the future in it. The aggression is starting to leak through. Anselmo is already the most intense person in the room. Darrell’s riffs are getting shorter, sharper and more rhythmic. All the pieces are there; they just haven’t been bolted together yet.
Two years later, they would be.
5. Reinventing the Steel (2000)
Pantera’s last album, and it knows it’s a victory lap.
Reinventing the Steel went to number four on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold, and it’s a deliberate step back from the darkness of Trendkill toward straight-ahead, fist-in-the-air Pantera. “Revolution Is My Name” is the best thing on it, a proper late-period anthem built on one of Darrell’s most swaggering riffs. “Hellbound” opens the record at a sprint, and the band sound locked in for most of the running time.
The problem is that you’ve heard most of it before, done better, on the records ranked above it. This is Pantera doing Pantera, confidently and well, with nothing left to prove and not much left to say.
It gets heavier in hindsight. The band broke up in 2003, and on 8 December 2004 Darrell was shot and killed onstage with Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. Vinnie Paul died in 2018. This is the last time the four of them made a record together, and there hasn’t been a Pantera studio album since. The current touring lineup with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante hasn’t changed that, and I’ve already said how long I think that should go on.
4. The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
The scariest record Pantera ever made, and the sound of a band coming apart while it plays.
The Great Southern Trendkill peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and went platinum. It was made in two different places. Dimebag, Vinnie and Rex recorded the music at Chasin Jason Studios in Texas while Anselmo cut his vocals on his own at Trent Reznor’s Nothing Studios in New Orleans. You can hear the distance. The songs are heavier, uglier and stranger than anything they’d done, and Anselmo sounds like a man screaming from the bottom of a well.
Then there’s “Floods.” It’s the longest song on the album, and the solo near the end is the best thing Dimebag ever put on tape. Guitar World ranked it the 32nd greatest guitar solo of all time, and I’d have it a lot higher than that. Instead of shredding at you, it aches, then swells into something close to beautiful on a record that’s otherwise all fury. If you’re ranking the best metal guitarists, this solo is the exhibit.
It’s fourth because it’s a harder listen than the three above it, and because the darkness came from somewhere real. Anselmo’s heroin addiction was pulling the band apart, and on the tour that followed he suffered a near-fatal overdose that left him legally dead for several minutes before he was revived. It’s a brilliant record made under the worst possible conditions, and it sounds like it..
3. Cowboys from Hell (1990)
This is where the spandex went in the bin.
Cowboys from Hell was Pantera’s major-label debut on Atco, produced by Terry Date, and it’s the moment four guys from Arlington stopped sounding like everybody else. The title track opens with a riff that sounds like a band kicking down a door. “Domination” ends in a half-time breakdown heavy enough to have started a thousand pits. “Cemetery Gates” gave Anselmo a ballad with a scream at the end that singers are still trying to hit.
This is the birth of groove metal. Thrash was about speed. Pantera slowed it down, dug the riffs into the pocket and made heaviness physical, something you felt in your chest before you heard it. There are dozens of bands on our list of the best groove metal albums and every one of them owes something to this record.
It peaked at number 117 on release and went on to sell double platinum, which tells you how long it took the rest of the world to catch up. Third, because the two records above it took this blueprint and made it deadlier.
2. Far Beyond Driven (1994)
The album that proved a record this brutal could top the charts.
Far Beyond Driven debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in March 1994. Think about that. In the middle of grunge’s commercial peak, the heaviest mainstream band in America put out their most extreme album yet, and it went straight to the top.
It’s the most punishing record in the catalogue. “Strength Beyond Strength” opens with the band going for the throat and never letting go. “Becoming” rides a riff that sounds like machinery chewing through concrete. “5 Minutes Alone” is a threat set to music. And to close it out, a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” that sounds like the calm after a hurricane, which makes sense when you’ve heard where that song came from.
So why isn’t the number one album number one? Because it’s a slightly less complete record than the one that came before it. Far Beyond Driven is all impact. The next one is impact with nothing wasted.
1. Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
This is the record that ended the argument about what metal was supposed to sound like in the nineties.
Vulgar Display of Power peaked at only number 44 when it came out, and it’s gone double platinum anyway, because it never stopped selling. Terry Date produced it, and it’s the sharpest, tightest, most complete thing Pantera ever made. There’s no filler. Every song does a job.
“Mouth for War” opens it like a punch in the jaw. “A New Level” is exactly what it says. And then “Walk,” the riff every guitarist on earth has attempted in a guitar store at some point, is built on a groove so simple and so heavy it shouldn’t work. It’s still the sound of a whole genre deciding to slow down and hit harder. “This Love” does quiet-to-crushing better than anybody before it. The track whose title we can’t print here is under three minutes of pure hostility.
Anselmo found the voice here, half bark and half roar, the one every metalcore vocalist of the next two decades borrowed. Dimebag found the tone. Vinnie and Rex locked into a rhythm section that moved like one machine.
Far Beyond Driven is heavier. Cowboys from Hell came first. Vulgar Display of Power is where everything they were trying to do finally clicked into place, every song at once. If you want to go deeper, here’s every track on Vulgar Display of Power broken down.
We Also Recommend: Think Pantera out-thrashed the legends? Check out our ranking of all 17 Megadeth Albums and see how Dave Mustaine’s body of work compares!
What About The Live Albums And Compilations?
They’re not in the ranking, because this is studio albums only.
Official Live: 101 Proof (1997) went to number 15 and turned gold, and it’s the best way to hear how that rhythm section sounded in a room. Far Beyond Bootleg: Live from Donington ’94 followed in 2014. The Best of Pantera compilation in 2003 went platinum.
None of them add new songs to the story. And with the current lineup on the road, there are now two Pantera eras on stage to argue about, one with the Abbott brothers and one with Zakk Wylde playing their songs. Zakk has spent much of his career as Ozzy’s guitar player, which is a résumé you can’t argue with, but only one of those eras made the records above.
The Full Ranking
Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
Far Beyond Driven (1994)
Cowboys from Hell (1990)
The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
Reinventing the Steel (2000)
Power Metal (1988)
I Am the Night (1985)
Projects in the Jungle (1984)
Metal Magic (1983)
TL;DR
Pantera released nine studio albums: four independent records from 1983 to 1988, and five major-label albums from 1990 to 2000.
The best Pantera album is Vulgar Display of Power (1992), the most complete record they made.
Far Beyond Driven (1994) is second, despite debuting at number one on the Billboard 200.
The worst Pantera album is Metal Magic (1983), a glam-era hard rock record with Terry Glaze on vocals.
Phil Anselmo’s first album with the band was Power Metal (1988), the bridge between the early years and Cowboys from Hell.
FAQ
What is the best Pantera album?
Vulgar Display of Power (1992) is the best Pantera album. It features “Mouth for War,” “Walk” and “This Love,” and it’s the tightest, most complete record the band made.
What is the worst Pantera album?
Metal Magic (1983) is the worst Pantera album. It was the band’s self-released debut, a glam-era hard rock record with Terry Glaze on vocals, and it sounds nothing like the Pantera most people know.
How many studio albums does Pantera have?
Pantera has nine studio albums: Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle, I Am the Night, Power Metal, Cowboys from Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill and Reinventing the Steel.
Which Pantera album went to number one?
Far Beyond Driven debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in March 1994. It’s the only Pantera album to top the chart.
Who sang on Pantera’s early albums?
Terry Glaze sang on Pantera’s first three albums, Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle and I Am the Night. Phil Anselmo joined for Power Metal in 1988.
Did I get the order wrong? Tell me where Trendkill belongs in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news at loadedradio.com.
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Spanish melodic death metal band BLOODHUNTER will release their hotly-anticipated studio album, entitled “Sons Of The Abandoned”, on June 12, 2026 via ROAR – A Division Of Reigning Phoenix Music. In support of the news, BLOODHUNTER have released music video for their latest single “Threshold Of Hell”, featuring Fernando Ribeiro of Portuguese dark metal legends MOONSPELL.
“I think it’s the most complete song on the album. We worked really hard on it, both musically and in terms of sound effects, the collaboration with Fernando Ribeiro… and it also has a great groove.”
Vocalist Diva Satanica adds about the meaning behind the track:
“It’s an anti-war song that dissects the mysteries of human behaviour and how it seems we didn’t evolve at all, making the same mistakes of the past. We wanted to emphasize this contradiction of being an anti-war song but using the typical sounds in this context, so we created our own military march shaking some spoons inside of a cooking pot (there is even a video of us recording it).”
Formed in Galicia,Spain, BLOODHUNTER have built their name in the international extreme metal scene through relentless touring, a hard and fast sound and artistic vision. Fronted by Diva Satanica, the band blends extreme metal aggression with melodic metal, deep grooves and forging a sound that is both ferocious and emotionally charged.
Since their inception, BLOODHUNTER have stood out for their conceptual approach and strong identity. Their music has always balanced brutality with atmosphere, drawing from themes such as ancient civilizations, power, human conflict and transcendence. Over the years, the band has evolved naturally, refining their songwriting and pushing beyond genre boundaries without losing their aggressive core.
Tue Madsen, produced “Sons Of The Abandoned”, which marks a turning point in BLOODHUNTER’s career. It is their most personal and honest album so far, shifting the focus inward to explore identity, vulnerability, personal struggle and the cost of pursuing one’s own path. For the first time, the lyrics address inner demons, toxic environments, and the feeling of being lost in a world driven by individuality and superficial values. Musically, the album blends crushing riffs with elegant grooves and striking melodic passages.
Tracklist: 1. The Devil’s Own 2. The Outspoken 3. Threshold Of Hell 4. Ephemeral Youth 5. Sons Of The Abandoned 6. No One Beats Death 7. Code Aeternam 8. The Path That Never Ends 9. The Night Is Darker Before The Dawn 10. Masters Of Deceive 11. Human Insecticide
MONTREAL, QC — Fresh off their historic Juno Award win for the acclaimed comeback album Shadow Work, Canadian deathcore pioneers Despised Icon have announced they are taking the throne overseas. The band will join forces with deathcore titans Carnifex and New York death metal institution Suffocation for the ‘Death Dominion Tour’—a triple co-headlining run set to pulverize Europe and the UK this fall.
A Victory Lap for Despised Icon
The tour marks a triumphant return for Despised Icon, whose first album in six years, Shadow Work, has revitalized the genre and earned them top honors in their home country. Pairing their technical precision with the blackened deathcore of Carnifex and the legendary, genre-defining brutality of Suffocation makes this one of the most anticipated extreme metal packages of 2026.
Joining the “Big Three” on all dates will be Louisville, KY’s own rising death metal stars, Gates To Hell, ensuring a relentless assault from start to finish.
The 20-city trek kicks off in Munich on October 29 and carves a path through the UK and Mainland Europe before wrapping up in Karlsruhe, Germany.
UK & European Tour Dates:
10/29 Munich, GER – Backstage
10/31 Haarlem, NET – Patronaat
11/03 London, UK – Electric Brixton
11/05 Manchester, UK – Academy 2
11/07 Bristol, UK – Electric Bristol
11/11 Milan, ITA – Legend
11/18 Berlin, GER – Columbia Theater (Full itinerary available below)
Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 17. Fans are encouraged to act fast, as triple co-headlining lineups of this caliber historically sell out mid-sized venues rapidly. Grab yours at this location.
Canadian deathcore leaders Despised Icon (fresh off their Juno Award win) are joining forces with Carnifex and Suffocation for the triple co-headlining ‘Death Dominion’ tour. The 20-date trek kicks off October 29 in Munich and hits major cities across the UK and Europe with support from Gates To Hell. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 17.
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Way back in 2003, Owen Ashworth, who now records as Advanced Base, released his album Twinkle Echo under his former moniker Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. That album contained a short, sweet track called “Hey Eleanor.” Wednesday, Claire Rousay released a cover of that song. According to her note on Bandcamp, she threw it together…
Slave Machine is the sixth studio album from Nervosa. This record serves as a major milestone in their discography, further establishing founding guitarist Prika Amaral’s evolution into the role of lead vocalist.
First Impression
“Impending Doom” sets a menacing tone right away, pulling you into a high-intensity experience where Prika Amaral sounds more savage than ever. The technical guitar work and relentless drumming give the aggression a focused edge, making the sound feel tight rather than chaotic. Even with the raw brutality, the anthemic hooks hit hard and early, making the music feel both punishing and perfectly executed.
Similar Sounds
If you’re into any of these artists, this album should be on your radar.
Torture SquadDefacing GodDestruction
Visual Vibes
The cover features an assembly of a biomechanical head fused with rusted gears and pistons, its mouth silenced by the title “Slave Machine.” This industrial aesthetic mirrors the band’s shift toward a more technical and deliberate death-thrash sound. The visual of something being systematically built reflects the tight songwriting and relentless drumming, ensuring the artwork feels as cold and savage as the music.
Track on Repeat
“Impending Doom” opens the album with a steady, crushing pace that lets the massive riffs and aggressive vocals build a dark, threatening atmosphere, making it the perfect way to set the tone for the rest of the record.
In-depth Notes
Musical Shape 🎸
The record moves away from a constant high-speed thrash blur in favor of a more technical and layered sound. The songs feel bigger and more purposeful, using heavy, mid-tempo grooves and detailed guitar work to build a darker atmosphere. This shift gives the music more breathing room, letting the riffs and drumming land with real impact instead of just rushing past. It’s a more mature style that adds variety to the album, making the aggressive moments feel much more powerful.
Vocal Performance 🎤
Prika Amaral sounds more confident on her second album as lead vocalist, bringing a natural bite that fits the heavy production. Her voice is deep and harsh but stays clear enough to follow, proving she is fully settled into her role as a frontwoman. Instead of just filling a space, her delivery drives the energy of each track and keeps the sound consistent throughout the record.
Production Quality 🎧
The production gives the album a sharp, punchy sound that makes the instruments feel massive without losing their bite. The mix is clear enough to catch every detail in the riffs and drumming, but it still keeps an aggressive energy that feels genuinely heavy. It finds a great balance between a clean, modern finish and a loud, in-your-face impact, making the whole record sound huge and professional without sacrificing its harsh edge.
Themes and Concepts 💭
The album tackles the overwhelming weight of modern control and societal pressure, suggesting that we are all caught inside a metaphorical “slave machine.” This sense of being trapped is reflected in the heavy, oppressive riffs and a steady, crushing pace that makes the music feel just as inescapable as the lyrics.
Final Verdict
★★★★★★★★☆☆
“Slave Machine” stands as a testament to Nervosa’s evolution, using their years of experience to deliver a crushing, heavy sound that lands with the absolute authority of a seasoned powerhouse.
Mood Meter
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Intensity
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Melancholy
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Darkness
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Emotional
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Serenity
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Energy
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Romance
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Joyfulness
Perfect For…
Working out – high energy for a more intense workout Driving – but keep your eyes on the road Working in flow – especially when your co-workers are annoying and loud Working on Art – Heavy with inspiration Emotional Struggle – Heavy music for heavy emotional weights
DES MOINES, IA — While the world prepares for the long-awaited arrival of Look Outside Your Window this Saturday, April 18, Slipknot’s M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan is finally pulling back the curtain on the project’s heavy emotional toll. After nearly two decades of delays, the percussionist admits that releasing the record isn’t just about the music—it’s about closing a chapter on a “timestamp” of grief and creative sanctuary.
The Myth of ‘Look Outside Your Window’
Recorded during the 2008 All Hope Is Gone sessions, the 10-song outing was a secret world created by Clown, Corey Taylor, Jim Root, and Sid Wilson. While it has taken on a near-mythological status among Maggots, Clown revealed to Rolling Stone that the title actually came from a late-night moment at an old farmhouse.
“One night, we saw some eyeshine on the tree in front of the window… probably a raccoon,” Clown explained. “Jim [Root] was walking away, and he said, ‘Always look outside your window.’ It just meant so much… it solidifies who we were and what we were doing between writing and having to go down and contemplate Slipknot, which is huge.”
The decision to “finally put his foot down” and release the material wasn’t easy. The album traverses experimental, melodic soundscapes influenced by bands like Radiohead and The Smashing Pumpkins, but for Clown, the beauty is tempered by the loss of his bandmates.
“The album doesn’t make me cry, but it hurts,” Clown admitted. “There are a lot of things that make me stop and look at myself and my life. Some of our brothers are gone. So that album ended up being a real good timestamp on other emotions.”
While the vinyl hits shelves for Record Store Day this weekend, Clown teased that this might not be the absolute end of the project. He confirmed that while about five other tracks exist, they aren’t quite “complete.”
Perhaps most surprisingly, the man who has spent 30 years in the “Nine” is open to bringing Look Outside Your Window to the stage. “There would be no reason we couldn’t play this live,” Clown revealed. “It could very well be one, two, three special shows. I’m going to wait until someone calls me and goes, ‘Today’s the day, we have a demand.’”
Slipknot’s Clown has opened up about the release of the “lost” album Look Outside Your Window, describing it as an emotional “timestamp” recorded during a chaotic 2008. Despite the “melancholy” and “hurt” associated with the tracks and the loss of bandmates, Clown is finally “closing the chapter” and even teased the possibility of rare live performances if the fans demand it.
