“Five Minutes Alone” by the groove metal band Pantera is one of my favorite metal songs of all time and contains some of my favorite guitar riffs. I absolutely love the tone of the instruments, as I believe they perfectly administer the song’s meaning; anger and hate. The band’s guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott is notoriously known as one of the heaviest, most brutal guitarists in the history of metal, and I believe he conveys that very well in his playing in “Five Minutes Alone.” The rest of the rhythm section is very solid and heavy in the song, and the vocalist Phil Anselmo rips right through the speakers when he delivers the song’s lyrics. I absolutely love the song from the point of lyrical content as well, as I think it’s a perfect song to listen to when I feel angry. It provides me with a good release for any anger I may be feeling, and I can really connect with the song.

The song tells the story of an altercation the vocalist Phil Anselmo had at a concert with a fan who was antagonizing the band from the crowd. Phil uses metaphors to help explain the situation he was going through at the show, and integrates them in Pantera’s heavy and angry rhythm section. Phil describes the fan’s intentions to embarrass the band as a “master plan transpired” and goes on to tell the fan “you’ve waged a war of nerves.” Known as a very aggressive person, Phil titled the song “Five Minutes Alone” because he told the fan and his friend (some sources say the fan’s father), that after the show to give him five minutes and he would physically injure them. He uses the line “you can’t crush the kingdom” to describe his band and himself to the fan and tell the fan that he will not be able to injure nor embarrass Pantera. The song is set to a very slow to moderate tempo, allowing for the drum hits, in combination with Dime’s heavy guitar, to create a sledgehammer styled, pummel of sound that comes down on the listener. The song sticks to the use of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, with the guitar and bass having a very heavy, overdriven tone. Phil’s style of vocals is not pretty, and is a half guttural scream, half deep shout that perfectly communicates feelings of hate and violence.

The song is autobiographical, as it does tell an actual anecdote from an early 1990s Pantera show. This song was on Pantera’s critically acclaimed Far Beyond Driven album, which as whole conveys a theme of anger, disruption, violence, and hate. The songs are all very heavy and pounding musically, so it fits right in with the other songs on the album. It is not musically or lyrically different from anything else Pantera has released, other than that it tells an anecdote. Pantera’s first few LP’s were a bit more fast paced and thrash metal like, but the anger and heaviness of both the vocals and the music has always been present in their discography.

This song fits perfectly in any playlist that you listen to when you are mad or need to release emotion. Any time I listen to this song I find myself forgetting any stress or anger I had because I’m too busy slamming my air drums and wailing on air guitar. It’s also perfect for trying to get “pumped up” for an occasion. I find it to be a perfect song for when I’m running, conditioning, or snowboarding, as it pushes me to work harder.

Works Cited

Anselmo, Phil. Five Minutes Alone. Perf. Rex Brown, Darrell Abbott, and Vincent

Abbott. Pantera. Rec. 1993. Terry Date, 1994. CD.

Pantera. “5 Minutes Alone – Pantera.” Google Play Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.

Song Lyrics

https://play.google.com/music/preview/T2lpa2b5fre6daqpytrlxvyb7um?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics

• I want to learn how to better identify various stories and deep meanings in lyrical content
• I want to learn how artists use lyrics and song expression to string together concepts to form concept albums.
• I want to learn how to intriguingly tell stories through music so I am able to incorporate stories into the music I write.
• I hope to use the lyrical content I learn in songs to learn more about the artists who wrote the songs.

My name is Nick Perosino, and I’m a chemical engineering major here at Stony Brook. I’m from the outskirts of Waterbury, Connecticut and have grown up loving and playing music, as well as loving sports. I have multiple brothers and I am from an Italian background, so my family is very large and close. Every Sunday is a big Italian family gathering and I would’t want it any other way.

I began loving music at a young age, as my dad would always play his Buddy Holly and Big Bopper records. By middle school I was playing guitar, and then by high school I had also picked up the drums and bass. I took private instructions for many years to learn about the theory behind music, and I also took instruction on how to produce and engineer music. Throughout all four years of high school I played in a groove metal band, and recorded my band along with other bands in the area. I have a lot of experience playing live, whether I was opening for a professional band or playing with other local bands. My favorite genre has always been metal, whether it’s classic metal like Black Sabbath, weird 80’s thrash like King Diamond, heavy groove like Pantera, or modern metalcore like All That Remains. I’m a huge fan of all eras of rock and punk music as well. I love hardcore, old school hip/hop, experimental rap, alternative rock, grunge, and some jazz and classical.

I’m a huge fan of sports and have played them throughout my entire life. Through high school I played both soccer and baseball, and love watching baseball and football. My favorite baseball team has always been the New York Yankees, and I absolutely love the Philadelphia Eagles for football. Football is by far my favorite sport to watch, and during the fall my weekly moods tend to heavily rely on how well the Eagles played the previous Sunday. Unfortunately I have only been to one Eagles game in person, but it was one of the best experiences of my life, as I got to watch them beat up on the New York Giants. I also enjoy watching the New York Rangers play hockey.