An unauthorized biography

No band affected the metal world more so than Pantera during the early to mid-'90s. Beginning with its 1990 album Cowboys From Hell, the post-thrash band put to rest any and all remnants of the '80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al., were anything but passé. Sure, a lot of critics point toward Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the subsequent alternative rock explosion as the death knell of '80s-style metal, but you could just as easily point toward Pantera. In fact, most metalheads do exactly that. Looking back, it wasn't like legions of dyed-in-the-wool headbangers suddenly cut their hair and began listening to Seattle grunge bands. Rather, a great many metalheads were heavily affected by the emergence of Pantera, especially the Vulgar Display of Power album, which was unlike any other metal album of the time, emerging as it did in 1992. That album in particular stood out at the time, slowing down the breakneck tempos of thrash and upping the heaviness quotient, as well as changing the vocal style, pushing it more toward hardcore or even grindcore. By the time Pantera unleashed Far Beyond Driven in 1994, they were the most popular metal band in the land, as the frenzy surrounding that Billboard chart-topping album testified. However, the band began to self-destruct around this same time as well. Drug abuse certainly played a role, with lead vocalist Phil Anselmo ODing on heroin at one point, for instance, and tensions within the band also playing a role in its ultimate, acrimonious dissolution. The final nail in Pantera's coffin came during the early to mid-2000s, when Anselmo began engaging himself in a multitude of side projects and when, very sadly, guitarist Dimebag Darrell was bizarrely murdered on-stage in late 2004. This much-publicized murder shone the spotlight back on Pantera for a brief moment, and amid all of the emotional outpours and media commentary, a consensus arose: Pantera had indeed been a landmark band, somewhat undervalued during their reign, with practically every contemporary metal band of the time openly paying tribute to their legacy.

Pantera's beginnings date back to the early '80s when the Texas-based band began releasing albums on the Metal Magic label. Originally, the band featured then-teenaged brothers Darrell Abbott (aka Dimebag Darrell and, for a short while, Diamond Darrell) and Vinnie Paul Abbott (aka Vinnie Paul), as well as Rex Brown (aka Rex Rocker) and Terrence Lee (aka Terry Glaze). They debuted in 1983 with Metal Magic, followed by Projects in the Jungle in 1984 and I Am the Night in 1985. Singer Phil Anselmo then replaced Glaze, and the group went on to record Power Metal, an album released in 1988 that eventually scored the group a deal with East West. While these '80s albums are no doubt curious to hear, it's fairly evident that this was a much different Pantera. For the most part, fans and surely the band treat Cowboys From Hell as Pantera's "official" debut album featuring the group's longtime lineup: Anselmo (vocals), Dimebag (guitar), Vinnie Paul (drums), and Rex Brown (bass). This album put Pantera on the national metal map, particularly thanks to songs like "Cemetery Gates" and the title track. Pantera's unique "power groove" style (referring to songs composed primarily of groove-oriented riffs) came to fruition in their breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power (1992), which saw the replacement of the falsetto vocals with a more hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and a much heavier guitar sound. While some critics point to the rise of grunge as the subsequent downfall of hair metal, others claim Pantera, most notably on Vulgar Display of Power, as being the catalyst that overpowered popular '80s metal. Among critics and fans, it is frequently cited as the band's best effort. Songs "Fucking Hostile," a fast, aggressive challenge of authority, the riff-driven "Walk," and the first metal single to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts, "Mouth for War," remain some of the most popular songs in their catalogue.

The extent to which Vulgar Display of Power grew in popularity can be assessed by the instant success of the 1994 follow-up, Far Beyond Driven, which debuted at #1 in both U.S. and Australian album charts - the first metal album ever to achieve this. "I'm Broken," the fourth track on Far Beyond Driven, was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. This was all accomplished despite the failing fortunes of metal in America at that time. In this release, Pantera took an even more extreme direction with their musical style.

When Pantera returned in 1996 with their next album, The Great Southern Trendkill, quite a bit had changed. They'd begun experimenting with their sound, slowing down their tempos and moving away from the relentless heaviness of Far Beyond Driven. The album also featured a very bitter, reactionary tone, with a heavy use of vocal overdubbing. (Anselmo's vocals were notably recorded at Trent Reznor's studio, and are quite demonic at times.) Moreover, Anselmo wrote quite a bit about drug abuse in songs like "Suicide Note" and "Living Through Me (Hells' Wrath)," no doubt alluding to the personal demons and tensions that had begun pulling the band apart. Partly as a result of such experimentation and personal abandon, Trendkill may indeed be Pantera's most curious album. In any event, reactions from fans and critics were mixed, and sales fell. It would be four years before Pantera released another studio album, releasing a stopgap live album in 1997, the fierce Official Live: 101 Proof. During this long interim, rumors swirled and Anselmo further distanced himself from the band, participating in various side projects, among them Down, with which he experienced quite a bit of success. Pantera did reunite, however -- one last time -- for Reinventing the Steel, which was released in 2000 and, like The Great Southern Trendkill, didn't come close to matching the impact of Far Beyond Driven. By this point the band's following had dwindled, and the metal landscape had undergone serious changes with the emergence of alt-metal bands like Korn and Tool, not to mention the likes of Marilyn Manson and Limp Bizkit.

The end of Pantera then became official on December 8, 2004, when guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered on-stage by a deranged fan. This much-publicized murder shone the spotlight back on Pantera for an extended moment, and amid all of the emotional outpouring and tributes, a consensus arose: in retrospect, there was no greater metal band during the early to mid-'90s than Pantera, who inspired a legion of rabid fans and whose oft-termed "groove metal" style bucked all prevailing trends of the day -- from hair metal and grunge to nu-metal and rap-metal -- and remains singular to this day, as defined by the vocals of Anselmo as it is by the guitar of Dimebag.