Discovering Metal: Pantera

“Coming for you, we're the Cowboys from Hell”

From left to right: Dimbag Darrel, Vinny Paul, Phil Anselmo & Rex Brown

If you want to know the history of the band, Pantera, a quick visit to their wiki page would suffice but here is some basic information about the band. Pantera was a band from the state of Texas and was founded by Terry Glaze and the Abbot brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinny Paul.

Pantera had two distinct lineups. The first was from when they were founded in 1981 to 1986 in which the band was glam metal. During this lineup with Terry Glaze as the singer and rhythm guitarist, they created 3 albums. Also, until their seventh album, Far Beyond Driven, “Dimebag Darrell” was known as “Diamond Darrell”. Around 1986-87, they welcomed vocalist Phil Anselmo. With Anselmo they produced 6 studio albums and 1 live album.

Wikipedia

To the current Pantera fan base, their fifth album Cowboys from Hell is recognized as their debut as they tend to ignore all their previous albums. Cowboys was the album from which they changed their style from Glam to Groove Metal.

I got into Pantera a few years ago in 2014 when one of my friends introduced me to their song “Cowboys from Hell”. I loved the sound and discovered other cool songs on that album like “Cemetery Gates” and “Domination”. I soon bought their other albums that were available. As I listened to each album in the sequence in which they were released, it became more brutal for me to listen to them. For me, when I got to their fourth album (actually their eighth album), The Great Southern Trendkill, I did not like this new direction that the band had taken. That album featured a lot of screaming which was a turn off for me. It wasn’t until a few years later that I found that I could appreciate that album.

For myself and many others, what makes Pantera’s music still relevant over 20 years later is that their music is still some of the heaviest music on the market. Songs like “This Love” and “Becoming” are the bread and butter of Pantera. Their riffs and lyrics are just as impactful as they were in the 90’s.

One little side note is that except for their last album, Panera features a power ballad on every album. These ballads are “Cemetery Gates”, “Hollow”, “Planet Caravan” and “Floods”. Although their cover of the Black Sabbath song “Planet Caravan” on their third album is not a power ballad, it is the song that would best represent that trend.

During the 90’s, Grunge reigned supreme and by most accounts Metal was dead. So, when a metal band with such a heavy sound was able to get a number one album on the Billboard 200, it was huge for metal culture. This meant that Heavy Metal wasn’t dead and was still alive.

Unfortunately, Pantera didn’t last and in the early 2000’s they broke up. What’s even more depressing is the murder of Dimebag Darrell while he was onstage at a show with the band Damageplan. So now Pantera can never have a full reunion. What also doesn’t help is the communication breakdown between Vinny Paul and Phil Anselmo. Fans still hold out hope for some sort of reunion, but as fans we need to celebrate their legacy as it is not hope on a fool’s errand.

Now there is one more thing I would be remiss if I did’t mention and that is Phil Anselmo’s recent debacle at the “Dimebash” event. What he did was wrong and while he apologized, it’s going to take while before he can get his reputation back to what it once was.

During the time period post-Pantera, the members have spread out and have had their ups and downs. The legacy of this band will live on in the hearts and minds of past and future fans.

Top 5 albums:

1) Cowboys from Hell

2) Vulgar Display of Power

3) Far Beyond Driven

4) Reinventing the Steel

5) The Great Southern Trendkill