DAMAGEPLAN "New Found Power"
by Ozzy Stillbourne

Cover: 6 Cowboys From Hell out of 10
Explosions are cool and this shows the 4 guys in the band walking away from a giant ass explosion while wearing all black. Maybe they blew up a Superjoint Ritual rehearsal.

Booklet: 6 Cowboys From Hell out of 10
Nothing fancy here. Credits and lyrics on a plain black background. One color photo and the bass player looks like a fat Robbie Crane, so I can't take him serious at all.

Songs: 6 Cowboys From Hell out of 10
I'm a tad disappointed with this. It's not bad, but not memorable. The singer dude Pat Lachman, which sounds like it should be the name of a fucking leprechaun, sounds generic. He sounds like a million other singers and doesn't seem to have his own style. Most of the songs on here blend in with all the other heavy bands out now. At times you can tell it's Dimebag playing but it's not like it was in Pantera, where the riffs made your nipples spin like a weather vein. Not much of that is here. "Crawl" is probably the closest to old school Pantera on this disc and that's cool. Slipknot's Corey Taylor screams on "Fuck You" and that song is ok, but the novelty of having a song called "Fuck You" wore off 10 years ago. Zakk Wylde appears on "Reborn" and "Soul Bleed" for those of you who care. The song "Blink Of An Eye" sounds very nu-metal radio friendly and some of these songs have some more melodic moments than Pantera did. It's not all screaming, which is good because too much of that makes me what to slap somebody. It just doesn't stand out from the pack now-a-days.
This is an enhanced CD and features the video for "Breathing New Life" which is boring as shit. Just the band rocking out with an all black background. Van Halen's "Jump" had more of a budget. This reminds me of a more boring version of the "5 Minutes Alone" video, and Pat the Leprechaun is totally bald, so if you were totally stupid you'd probably think it was Pantera back in 1992.

Comments: I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. This is average, just like what Phil Anselmo has been putting out. I think they both need each other and if Judas Priest can reunite, than it's safe to say Pantera will be doing the same someday down the line.