Pantera started out as a heavy glam-metal band. They would later deny it, but the spandex, puffed up perms and histrionic high vocals don't lie.
They slowly evolved their sound into a heavier thrashier deal, particularly with the introduction of new vocalist Phil Anselmo.
With this, the third album with Anselmo, he had mostly set aside his glam vocals in favour of metal screams and deeper growls. The music had moved away from glam and even thrash to focus on a slower "groove-metal" sound. Drawing on the band's southern background, with hints of blues and southern rock to some of the riffs and solos.
There is plenty of variety within the album. There's the single-string, 2-3 note simplicity of "Walk" (that must surely have joined 'smoke on the water' and 'nothing else matters' as stock songs for beginner guitarists to bang out at guitar shops). There are the grunge-ballad verses/grinding metal choruses of "This Love" and "Hollow". While "F**king Hostile" is more or less a hardcore punk track with a little more flash.
Anselmo's newly shaven head and songs about dominance and respect raised one or two eyebrows (probably more in retrospect with Anselmo's infamous "white power" incident in 2016).
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