After the untimely demise of Pantera, uber-guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul created the melodic and pummeling Damage Plan with hopes of recreating Pantera’s former ferocity with singer Patrick Lachman. The music on the new group’s “New Found Power” largely lives up to Pantera’s legacy in varying degrees, but Lachman often shows his inadequacies as a lyricist, and his over zealous ambition to mirror Phil Anselmo.

Damage Plan songs like “Wake Up” and “Reborn” often brim with the thundering, shredding intensity Pantera became known for on albums like “Cowboys From Hell” and “Vulgar Display of Power.” But the songs continually fall flat lyrically as Lachman is content simply to bludgeon listeners over the head without any subtlety.

The tunes are grinding and savage, but they never quite attain the delicate balance of melody and mayhem Pantera thrived on for more than a decade. It’s as though Damage Plan was a little too eager to prove itself as archetypal metal to realize maybe more song polishing was necessary before presenting a public face via a major label album.

The album does, however, grow on the listener when it’s realized that Damage Plan is NOT Pantera and never will be.