Pantera

One of the preeminent metal bands of the ’90s, Texan powerhouse Pantera 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. Loathe to admit it, the Texas band had in fact been one of those ’80s metal bands, releasing fairly unsuccessful (and later disowned) glam-inspired music throughout much of the decade. The about-face came in 1986 with the addition of vocalist Phil Anselmo, who joined the classic, core lineup of bassist Rex Brown, drummer Vinnie Paul, and guitarist Dimebag Darrell. After the release of 1988′s Power Metal, the band pushed their sound to a new extreme with their major-label debut, Cowboys from Hell (1990). Pantera’s mainstream breakthrough came next with Vulgar Display of Power (1992), their second major-label album, which thrust the band to the forefront of the metal scene, alongside such veteran bands as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, as well as fellow up-and-comers Sepultura and White Zombie. By the time Pantera unleashed Far Beyond Driven (1994), after two long years of touring, they were the most popular metal band in the land: the new album debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 as its lead single, “I’m Broken,” was getting massive airplay. At the height of their popularity and influence, Pantera began to self-destruct. Less than two months after the release of The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) — an album ridden with allusions to drug abuse and personal destruction — Anselmo overdosed on heroin after a homecoming concert in Texas, and as tensions rose between him and his fellow bandmembers, he began engaging with a growing list of side projects that kept him away from Pantera. A live album, Official Live: 101 Proof (1997), was compiled for release when it became evident that no new studio album was forthcoming any time soon. One final studio album did result, Reinventing the Steel (2000), but that was more or less it for the briefly reunited Pantera. The bandmembers once again went their separate ways, forming such bands as Damageplan, Down, and Superjoint Ritual. The end of an era for Pantera became official on December 8, 2004, when guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered on-stage by a deranged fan at a Damageplan show in Columbus, Ohio. 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 decades later, as defined by the vocals of Anselmo as it is by the guitar of Dimebag. In the years that followed, Anselmo and Rex Brown continued work as Down, while Vinnie Paul formed the supergroup Hellyeah with members of Mudvayne and Nothingface. A Pantera greatest hits compilation, 1990-2000: A Decade of Domination, landed in 2010. Before the band managed an oft-teased official reunion, Paul died on June 22, 2018. Surviving members Anselmo and Brown eventually teamed with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante, playing as Pantera in a co-headlining spot with Judas Priest at the Monterrey Metal Fest in December 2022. That kicked off years of touring, joining the lineups for Hell & Heaven Metal Fest, Knotfest, and Metallica’s extensive M72 World Tour. ~ Jason Birchmeier