"Mouth for War" is a popular song by the heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Pantera

Pantera

Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...

. It was first released on the band's album Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by heavy metal band Pantera. It was released through Atco Records, on February 25, 1992. It is the last album where Darrell Abbott is credited as "Diamond Darrell". One of the most influential groove metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of...

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 Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!

The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! is a compilation album by the heavy metal band Pantera, released on September 23, 2003...

.

The song was released as downloadable content for the music video games Rock Revolution

Rock Revolution

Rock Revolution is a music video game developed by Zoë Mode and HB Studios and published by Konami. It was first revealed on May 15, 2008, and released on October 15, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360...

and Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3 is a music video game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, with Mad Catz taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series...

alongside "Walk", "I'm Broken

I'm Broken

"I'm Broken" is a song by the heavy metal group Pantera from the 1994 album Far Beyond Driven. It was the first single issued from the album...

" and "5 Minutes Alone

5 Minutes Alone

"5 Minutes Alone" is a song by the heavy metal band Pantera from their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven. The song also appears on the bands live album. The song was released as downloadable content for Rock Revolution.-Lyrics:...

".

Lyrics

Phil Anselmo 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".

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 "Walk".

Release and reception

"Mouth for War" was the bands first single of their Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power

Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by heavy metal band Pantera. It was released through Atco Records, on February 25, 1992. It is the last album where Darrell Abbott is credited as "Diamond Darrell". One of the most influential groove metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of...

album. The song is one of Pantera's most popular songs and experienced moderate commercial success, reaching #24 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Covers

"Mouth for War" has been covered by the Italian melodic death metal

Melodic death metal

Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...

 band Disarmonia Mundi

Disarmonia Mundi

Disarmonia Mundi is a melodic death metal band from Avigliana, Italy that started out as a progressive metal band. After Benny Bianco Chinto left the band it featured Soilwork's vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid for two albums...

 on their third album titled Mind Tricks. Another cover version by Biohazard

Biohazard (band)

Biohazard is a band originally based in Brooklyn, New York. They are acknowledged as one of the earliest bands to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip hop. The original lineup consisted of Vocalist/Guitarist Billy Graziadei, bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld, guitarist Bobby Hambel,...

 appears in the Metal Hammer

Metal Hammer

Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...

 Tribute to Dimebag Darrell

Dimebag Darrell

Darrell Lance Abbott , also known as Diamond Darrell and Dimebag Darrell, was an American guitarist. He was best known as a founding member of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan. Abbott also contributed to the album Rebel Meets Rebel, a collaboration between Pantera and David Allan Coe...

 album. An instrumental, all-cello version was also recorded by The Portland Cello Project

The Portland Cello Project

The Portland Cello Project is a collective of cello players in Portland, Oregon who have been performing since October 2006.-History:For almost a year, the group performed ambiguously under the names "Celli" and "Cellodarity" and eventually, exclusively "The Portland Cello Project." Originally...

 on the Kill Rock Stars

Kill Rock Stars

Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...

 label.

Track listing

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
UK Rock Songs Rock Songs Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs...	10
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	73
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...	24