I see it more as Pantera with maturity and actual emotional content. There's this whole vibe of "my life sucks and I'm drowning my sorrows cause I don't give a goddamn", and I think it works fantastically. Even if Anselmo's still a total meathead, he at least comes off as a meathead you can relate to somewhat in Down.
My favorite at the moment is "Pillars of Eternity". Massive fucking groovy as fuck riffs, and very satisfying vocals. I like how Anselmo doesn't go completely overboard with screams, but rather uses them to accent parts of the music.
(note: the audio here is not from the video footage, that's just a live performance that the poster tried to synch up with it)