Country of origin: United States
Location: Arlington, Texas
Formed: 1981
Years active: 1981-2003
Disclaimer: the following early Pantera albums are from their generic glam metal days, before Metallica and Exhorder thankfully became influences on their revised sound. Please listen at your own discretion!
Ugh, sorry about that. Now here's the Pantera that we all know and mostly love . . .
Encyclopedia Metallum notes:
Genre: Glam/Heavy Metal (early), Groove Metal (later)
Pantera was formed in 1981 by brothers Darrell Lance Abbott and Vincent Paul Abbott. They started out as a KISS-influenced glam band. They added bassist Rex Brown, and changed their names to Diamond Darrell, Vinnie Paul and Rex Rocker, respectively. They found vocalist Donnie Hart, who sang for a few rehearsals, and then Terry Lee Glaze. With the help of Jerry Abbott, Darrell and Vinnie's father, known as "The Eld'n" or "The Elder" (who was a famous country-music producer, and owned a studio), they put out their first album, "Metal Magic", in 1983. The first three albums in fact were on "Metal Magic Records", and were all self-produced.
1984's "Projects in the Jungle" and 1985's "I Am the Night" followed, with Terrence taking on the name "Terry Glaze" in 1985. They also put out "The Hot 'n Heavy Home Vid" in 1985, a set of live clips and other footage.
A meeting between Darrell and Metallica's James Hetfield turned fateful in 1985. At this point, Darrell had a "wall of glam" in his room, with pictures of Bon Jovi and whatnot. James spit on it, and Darrell, instead of getting angry, joined in. The "wall of loogies" is still there today. This marked a change in the band, as "I am the Night" was far heavier and faster.
When Terry Glaze wanted to stay with the glam sound, his influence in the band diminished. Darrell took over a lot of the vocals live, especially on covers by Metallica and other thrash bands (they also had Van Halen and Keel covers, as well as Anthrax). However, the reason he left the band was due to his father objecting to The Elder having a 1/5 stake in the band (same as a full member) due to his recording and management. When Pantera got signed to Atco in late 1986, Terry left. Jason McMaster (Watchtower, Assalant, Dangerous Toys, Happy Kitties) was offered the gig but declined. Terry was replaced first by David Peacock, and then Matt Lamour. Finally, Donnie Hart was brought back, and an audition was given to Rhett Forrester (Riot), but it turned out Phil Anselmo from Razor White was the final choice. His first gig was January 11th, 1987.
1988 brought the album "Power Metal", their fastest and heaviest yet, and at some point Rex Rocker lost an X. Soon he would lose his last name too, and in 1989, possibly due to an encounter with Slayer's Kerry King on May 18th (see video below), and also a later concert where they played Raining Blood and some Priest covers), they dropped the whole big hair thing. They also phased out the old songs in the setlist and brought in new ones that would appear on 1990's "Cowboys from Hell".
In 1992, Diamond Darrell became Dimebag Darrell, and around then, the band decided to officially disavow any knowledge of their early albums. Phil seems to have the most "fucking hostile" reaction to any mention of the old days, while Dime tended to be more amused than anything else. The "Vulgar Display of Power" and "Far Beyond Driven" albums were released in 1992 and 1994, respectively, and 1996 brought "The Great Southern Trendkill", with guest vocals by Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt. With the additions of 1997's live album, "101 Proof" and 2000's "Reinventing the Steel" the Pantera discography is completed.
The members were at times known to swap instruments onstage, with Dimebag playing bass and singing, Anselmo playing guitar and bass and Brown playing guitar or singing.
Phil has dabbled in many side projects over the years, from the widely successful Down (with bassist Rex), to Superjoint Ritual. He also appears as "Anton Crowley", guitarist, in Necrophagia and Viking Crown.
Back in 1999, Phil Anselmo, Fenriz (Darkthrone), Satyr (Satyricon), Kiljoy (Necrophagia) and Maniac (Mayhem) started a "supergroup" called Eibon. They were supposed to record a full-length, but due to their eavy schedule, plans were changed. Maniac left the band, and they released one track called "Mirror Soul Jesus" in Moonfog 2000 compilation "A Different Perspective". They also recorded an unnamed song. Both of them can be downloaded in Moonfog' site.
Tres Diablos was a very short time project where members of Pantera collaborated to do covers. Specifically, this was created for the compilation "ECW Extreme Music Vol. 1", covering the ZZ Top song "Heard It On the X."
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was shot to death on stage in a nightclub shooting on December 8, 2004, while performing with his band, Damageplan.
Wikipedia Excerpts:
After Pantera's breakup, Darrell and Vinnie formed a new band, Damageplan, with vocalist Pat Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla. The group released their first album, New Found Power, on February 10, 2004. The album was a commercial success; over 44,000 copies were sold in its first week alone and within a year over 100,000 copies were sold. However, some fans felt that Damageplan's material did not measure up to that of Pantera.
Tragedy struck on December 8, 2004. Damageplan was performing in support of their album at a show at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio when, less than a minute into the first song of their set, Nathan Gale, 25, went onstage and shot and killed Darrell. Gale also killed fan Nathan Bray, 23, club employee Erin Halk, 29, and Pantera security official Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, 40, and injured longtime Pantera and Damageplan drum technician John "Kat" Brooks and Damageplan tour manager Chris Paluska before being shot dead by Columbus police officer James Niggemeyer.
Pantera toured on Ozzfest as main stage acts twice; the band played at the second annual Ozzfest in 1997 and the fifth Ozzfest in 2000.
Aside from their post-glam, thrash metal influences, the band members cite heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath as one of their favorite bands. As a tribute, Pantera has recorded three different covers of Black Sabbath songs (all from the Ozzy Osbourne era). The first was "Planet Caravan", a slower, quieter song planned for the first Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black, that eventually became the final track on Far Beyond Driven. The band performed Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" on the second Nativity in Black. A previously unreleased cover of Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky" was included on the band's 2003 compilation album, The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! Pantera's affinity for Black Sabbath is also shown through the lyrics, "Your trust is in whiskey and weed and Black Sabbath", in "Goddamn Electric". The same song also mentions Slayer, one of the band's thrash metal influences.
Side note: The whole Exhorder-Pantera debate is very tired at this point, but since it is so well known, it needs to be noted here. Below is a summary . . .
Pantera's stylistic originality had been criticized by the New Orleans band Exhorder, although the music, lyrics and song titles are entirely different works. While Pantera's style change on Cowboys from Hell was released just before Exhorder's debut, Slaughter in the Vatican, Exhorder self-released two demos in the late 1980s (around the time that Pantera was still playing glam metal) are what Exhorder's band members originally cited as the real source of the musical style that Pantera is often credited for having innovated.
Side note: Anselmo is seen wearing an Exhorder shirt in the photo below from a Cowboys era photo shoot.
Although originally decrying Pantera as a rip-off off their sound, lead vocalist of Exhorder, Kyle Thomas, has stated that he does not care about any of the criticism and is sick of seeing Exhorder's name tied to Pantera's. He also stated that he and the members of Pantera were great friends who used to tour together, and that he mourns the loss of Dimebag Darrell.