"Mouth for War" is a song by American heavy metal band

Pantera Pantera () is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas formed in 1981, and currently comprised of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-kn ...

. It was first released on the band's sixth album '' Vulgar Display of Power'' and was the first single off that album. It was later released on the band's compilation album, '' The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!'' The song was released as downloadable content for the music video games ''

Rock Revolution ''Rock Revolution'' is a music video game developed by Zoë Mode and HB Studios and published by Konami. The game was released on 15 October 2008 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. As with similar titles, the game uses various c ...

'' and ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

'', alongside "

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", "

I'm Broken "I'm Broken" is a song by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Pantera from their seventh album, ''Far Beyond Driven''. It was the first single issued from the album. Kerry King said on the Japanese TV show ''Rock Fujiyama'' (featuring gui ...

" and "

5 Minutes Alone "5 Minutes Alone" is a song by American heavy metal band Pantera from their 1994 album ''Far Beyond Driven''. The song also appears on the band's live album. The song was released as downloadable content for ''Rock Revolution'' and ''Rock Band ...

Lyrics and composition

Vocalist

Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal vocalist best known as the lead singer for Pantera, Down (band), Down, and Superjoint, amongst other musical projects. He is the owner of Housecore Records ...

stated in a 1992 interview on Much More Music, that "Mouth for War" is about channeling your hate into something productive. This is evident in the lyrics "When I channel my hate to productive/I don't find it hard to impress". According to Anselmo, the song was written about the then middleweight champion

James Toney James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to ...

. "Mouth for War" was composed in the key of

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

Music video

The video shows the band playing the song to an audience. The majority of the video is shot in black and white, and a screenshot of the video was used as the cover for "

". It was directed by

Paul Rachman Paul Rachman (born September 13, 1962) is an American film director who directed the highly praised 2006 documentary on punk music '' American Hardcore'', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. H ...

who also directed the videos from the band's first album, ''Cowboys from Hell,'' and the feature documentary film '' American Hardcore''.

Release and reception

"Mouth for War" was the band's first single from their '' Vulgar Display of Power'' album. The song is one of Pantera's most popular songs and experienced moderate commercial success, becoming the band's first song to ever chart, reaching number 73 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was used as the theme song for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

''. ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'' ranked the song number 7 on their list of the 50 best Pantera songs. ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

'' considered "Mouth for War" to be the best Pantera song. They rated it 5/5, and wrote that it was a metal classic and had an iconic solo.

Covers

"Mouth for War" has been covered by Italian

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Disarmonia Mundi Disarmonia Mundi is a melodic death metal band from Avigliana, Italy, that started out as a progressive death metal band. The project is the brainchild of the producer and multi-instrumentalist Ettore Rigotti and is mainly known for featuring ...

on their third album, ''

Mind Tricks ''Mind Tricks'' is the third full-length studio album by the Italian melodic death metal band Disarmonia Mundi, released on June 12, 2006, by Scarlet Records. This album again features Björn "Speed" Strid on vocals, but this time without their ...

''. Another cover version by

Biohazard A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect human health. A bioh ...

appears in the ''

'' tribute to

Dimebag Darrell Darrell Lance Abbott (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004), best known by his stage name Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his ...

. An instrumental, all-

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

version was recorded by The Portland Cello Project on the

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

label.

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance, ...

covered the song live in 2011, featuring

Vinnie Paul Vincent Paul Abbott (March 11, 1964 – June 22, 2018) was an American musician best known for being the drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Pantera. He also co-founded Damageplan in 2003 with his younger brother, 'Dimebag' Darrell ...

on drums. In March 2021,

Lzzy Hale Elizabeth Mae "Lzzy" Hale (born October 10, 1983) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of hard rock band Halestorm, which she co-founded with her brother Arejay Hale in 1997. Career Hale began writing and ...

Halestorm Halestorm is an American rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, her drummer brother Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith. The group's self-titled debut album was re ...

, Reba Meyers of Code Orange,

Gina Gleason Gina Gleason is an American musician born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the current lead guitarist and background vocalist for Baroness, replacing Pete Adams. As a part of the Cirque du Soleil creation cast, Gleason played lead guitar an ...

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

, Madi Watkins of Year of the Knife,

Ben Koller Ben Koller (born July 29, 1980) is an American drummer who has played with Converge, Mutoid Man, Killer Be Killed and All Pigs Must Die. He started playing a full drum kit at age 14. Musical career Early bands (1997–1999) Koller played i ...

of All Pigs Must Die and

Mutoid Man Mutoid Man is an American heavy metal band formed in 2012 in Brooklyn, New York City by Cave In vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, Converge drummer Ben Koller and bassist Nick Cageao (with High on Fire bassist Jeff Matz replacing Cageao in 202 ...

, and Jordan Olds (aka Gwarsenio Hall) collectively released a cover of the song on the "Two Minutes to Late Night" YouTube channel.

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitar *

Rex Brown Rex Robert Brown (born July 27, 1964) is an American musician. He is best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Pantera, from 1982 to their disbandment in 2003. As of their reunion in 2022, he is the band's only constant member. Brown is ...

– bass *

– drums

Track listing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouth for War Pantera songs 1992 singles 1992 songs Atco Records singles Song recordings produced by Terry Date Songs written by Dimebag Darrell Songs written by Vinnie Paul Songs written by Phil Anselmo Songs written by Rex Brown