I'm listening to the album for the fifth time while I'm finishing the Rex Brown book "Official Truth - 101 Proof - The Inside Story Of Pantera" and I must confess that I'm confused a lot, as much by the comments that I just read but mostly by the sound blasting through my B&W speakers. And if the rage, the down-to-earth honesty and the legendary dedication of Phil H. Anselmo is unmatched yet, I'm not really seduced by this "Walk Through Exits Only" musically speaking but it could be considered as a true piece of furious rhetoric and corrosive art .Most of the guitar riffs seems composed directly by a Sludge garage band under cheap Black Metal influence (?) and the voice of the unscarred is a bit worn off and he sounds more and more like Mr. Kilmister.

Actually it seems that "Walk Through Exits Only" might be some of Anselmo's most harsh & aggressive record to date, where he use and abuse of his artistic freedom and that's surely a good thing, he's still pissed by the whole society and his anger that is flowing is concrete and palpable by each words that he shouts. This discharged wrath, it's his main focus and was even in the glorious PANTERA's days an important element of the unique C.F.H.'s sound, I understand that feeling and the need to use it as a tool, but PANTERA was the sum of an hellish equation , with a Musical genius, an hyper tight rhythmic section and Anselmo's obnoxious scorched vocals, unluckily today 2/3 of this recipe is missing and the fantastic musical groove isn't present either in favor of a primal sonic assault - of course beneficial, providential (or salutary and healing for Philip himself) but it also may disappoint by its uniformity - I truly enjoy running through the booklet and reading the lyrics and I think it's some kind of weird poetry made by a true authentic and vulnerable author.

The opening track's text for "Music Media Is My Whore" is quite fun, especially the lines saying "...the remarks will imply - this is not music - but the rebuttal is truth... Regurgitation is boring..." are so true !My favorite track is probably "Betrayed" or "Ursuper's Bastard Rant" which is quite catchy, but "Bedroom Destroyer" and "Bedridden" are certainly interesting numbers too and the last cut "Irrelevant Walls and Computer Screens"  contains some fine guitar parts and some unexpected structure like a Progressive Crust prototype.

I believe that some very hardcore die-hard fans will adore this album, even if it's not for me the case I feel that it contains some kind of addictive weirdness behind this recording and I should recognize the full stylistic integrity of the sound wave and I have to give my deepest respect and the entire credit for Anselmo's vision and his ultra-personal songwriting essentially in the lyrical side of this work.