Pantera:The History Of...
Pantera formed in 1981 with its original line-up consisting of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, his brother, guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott (originally referred to as Diamond Darrell), bassist Tommy Bradford, guitarist Terry Glaze (also known as Terrence Lee), and vocalist Donnie Hart. At its conception, the members of Pantera were in 11th grade. They began performing KISS and Van Halen covers as well as original material in the glam metal vein in Texas nightclubs.
In 1982, Hart left the band and Glaze took over vocal duties. Rex Brown soon replaced Bradford on bass. The band's regional tours in this era took them around Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Pantera began supporting fellow heavy metal acts such as Stryper, Dokken, and Quiet Riot, who in turn promoted Pantera's debut, Metal Magic.
Pantera's first commercially successful album was also its first major label release: Cowboys from Hell (1990). The band was turned down "28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth"[4] until Atco Records representative Mark Ross saw the band perform after Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. To this point, Pantera's music was still heavily influenced by "classic heavy metal", with Rob Halford-style vocals and guitarist Abbott's more complex riffs and solos.
On Cowboys, however, Pantera began showing a more extreme style, leaving behind glam metal influences in favor of an amalgamation of power metal and groove metal dubbed "power groove" by the band. The album marked a critical juncture in the band's history and most fans, along with the band itself, consider it Pantera's "official" debut. This release includes the popular tracks "Cemetery Gates", a brooding seven-minute piece that focuses on death and religion, and the thrashing title track, which gives the band members their nickname and personality.
Pantera's unique "groove" style came to fruition in its breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power (1992), which saw the replacement of the power metal falsetto vocals with a hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and heavier guitar sound. While some critics point to the rise of grunge music as the subsequent downfall of glam metal, others claim Pantera, most notably on Vulgar, as being the catalyst that overpowered popular '80s metal. Among critics and fans, it is frequently cited as the band's best effort. Songs like "****ing Hostile", a fast, aggressive challenge of authority, the riff-driven "Walk", and "Mouth for War", remain some of the most popular songs in Pantera's catalog.
The extent to which Vulgar Display of Power grew in popularity can be assessed by the instant success of its follow-up, Far Beyond Driven (1994), which debuted at #1 in both U.S. and Australian album charts, the first metal album to do so. "I'm Broken", Driven's fourth track, was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammys. In this release, Pantera took an even more extreme direction with its musical style.
Pantera's next album, The Great Southern Trendkill (1996), was released during grunge rock's dominance and at the onset of rap metal. It is often considered Pantera's "overlooked" album. Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals for this release in Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's studio. In comparison to the band's previous efforts, there was a heavier emphasis on vocal overdubbing in a somewhat "demonic" fashion. Drug abuse is a popular theme in Trendkill, as exemplified by tracks such as "Suicide Note" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)". Perhaps the most popular song from Trendkill is "Drag the Waters", which advises the listener to take the motives of others with a grain of salt. "Drag the Waters" became the album's only music video, and likewise, the only track from the album to appear on the band's compilation album.Some of the band's live performances were eventually compiled in its 1997 release, Official Live: 101 Proof, which included fourteen live tracks and two new studio-quality songs: "Where You Come From" and "I Can't Hide". Some tracks have slightly different titles than their originals (e.g., "Hostile" instead of "****ing Hostile"), while a track like "Dom/Hollow" ("Domination" and "Hollow", respectively) merged two separate songs together for a live performance. Pantera's final album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), has several songs that deal with the topic of the band itself. Steel debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 and included "Revolution is My Name" and "Goddamn Electric", the latter of which featured a Kerry King performance recorded during Ozzfest in Dallas. "Revolution is My Name" became the band's second nomination for Best Metal Performance in the 2001 Grammys.
Around 2001, Pantera dissolved after Anselmo left the band to pursue other work with such bands as Down, though the Abbott brothers did not officially end the band until they began work on their new project New Found Power. The remaining members held out for a time, assuming Anselmo would return. However, according to Anselmo, taking a break from Pantera was a "mutual thing" between each of the band members.
Anselmo instead decided to carry on full-time with one of his side projects, Superjoint Ritual, which has, as of 2003, released two albums. Following the release of the second Superjoint Ritual album, the Abbott brothers formed New Found Power, later renamed Damageplan.
The break-up of the band was not amicable and subsequently a war between Superjoint and Damageplan was waged via the heavy metal and musical press. Among the accusations thrown were that Anselmo and the Abbott brothers had difficulties in agreeing upon the direction in which they wanted Pantera's music to go in. Vinnie Paul and Dimebag later commented that Anselmo was forcing them to make the music that Anselmo wanted to make, and that they were not allowed to experiment and take chances with their recordings. In addition, Anselmo's drug habits (for example, a rather infamous heroin overdose after a show) are known to have caused some turmoil within the band. Finally, likely as a result of the other issues Pantera faced internally, the relationship between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers was rapidly deteriorating in general. Anselmo's comment in a 2004 issue of Metal Hammer magazine saying that "Dimebag deserves to be beaten severely" typified Pantera's internal conflicts; Anselmo insists that this comment was tongue-in-cheek. Caught up in the torrent was bassist Rex Brown, who ultimately aligned himself with Anselmo, joining him on the second Down album – A Bustle in Your Hedgerow.
In 2004 Dimebag was tragically murdered live on stage, his killer, Nathan Gale, was a crazed Pantera fan. Dimebag is still today one of the most revered and loved metal guitarist, influencing most of the new metal bands around today.
Pantera discography:
1983: Metal Magic (Metal Magic Records)
1984: Projects in the Jungle (Metal Magic Records)
1985: I am the Night (Metal Magic Records)
1988: Power Metal (Metal Magic Records)
1990: Cowboys from Hell (Atlantic Records)
1992: Vulgar Display of Power (Eastwest Records)
1994: Far Beyond Driven (Eastwest Records)
1996: The Great Southern Trendkill (Eastwest Records)
2000: Reinventing the Steel (Eastwest Records)