Pantera

Pantera was an American heavy metal ^{Heavy metal music} band from Arlington ^{Arlington, Texas} , Texas, formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul (drums ^Drummer ) and "Dimebag" Darrell ^{Diamond Darrell} (guitar ^{lead guitar} ) in 1981. Bassist Rex Brown would join in 1982 with vocalist Terry Glaze. In 1987 Phil Anselmo would become the group's lead vocalist ^sing , completing the band's successful lineup that would remain together for 16 years.

The band became a key formulator of the post-thrash metal subgenre, groove metal. It would not be until nine years after forming that the band saw its first piece of commercial success in its 1990 major label debut, Cowboys from Hell. From there, Pantera became one of the most celebrated heavy metal bands of the 1990s. Despite the generally negative reception of the band's first four albums from the 1980s, critics lauded Pantera's style thereafter; Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic.com ^Allmusic stated "there was no greater metal band during the early to mid-1990s than Pantera." The band has received accolades such as ranking 45th on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and fifth on MTV's "Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All-Time."

Pantera began to suffer from mounting tensions between the band members in the mid-1990s, largely due to Phil Anselmo's drug abuse. Anselmo had had a back injury for several years, and instead of getting proper treatment, began using heroin as a painkiller ^analgesic . As a result his behavior became erratic and volatile, his performances suffered and he began to distance himself from his bandmates, who were initially unaware of his addiction.

In 2001, the band went on hiatus and was never able reunite, with the Abbott brothers unable to communicate with Anselmo, who was immersed in several side-projects, chiefly Down ^{Down (band)} and Superjoint Ritual. Pantera officially disbanded in 2003 and a war of words ensued, with Phil and Vinnie Paul trading inflammatory comments and blaming one another for the break-up of Pantera via the media. Any hope of the band members ever reconciling their differences and possibly reuniting was lost in 2004, when "Dimebag" Darrell was shot and killed on-stage at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio by gunman Nathan Gale while performing with his new band, Damageplan.

 
Formation and early glam years (1981–1987)



Pantera was formed in 1981, with the original line-up consisting of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott ^{Vinnie Paul} , his younger brother, lead guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott ^{Dimebag Darrell} (then known as "Diamond Darrell"), rhythm guitarist Terry Glaze, bassist Tommy Bradford, and vocalist Donnie Hart.

On May 11, 2006, the VH1 Behind the Music episode on Pantera premiered. While focusing heavily on Darrell's murder, the episode also detailed the band's glam metal beginnings, its rise in popularity after the change in musical direction, and the conflicts between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers in the band's later years that would tear them apart.

When asked by Crave Music in 2006 if there was any chance of reconciling with Phil Anselmo, Vinnie Paul answered "Absolutely not. That's it." The former Pantera drummer has since begun work on Hellyeah, a collaboration between him and members from Mudvayne and Nothingface. Both Anselmo and Brown have reunited with Down, and supported Heaven and Hell ^{Heaven and Hell (band)} and Megadeth on their 2007 Canadian ^Canada tour, as well as supporting Metallica on the first half of their World Magnetic Tour.

On March 30, 2010, Pantera will be releasing a greatest-hits collection, titled "1990-2000 : A Decade of Domination". It will be available exclusively at Walmart stores and is made up of 10 tracks that were remastered.Pantera has toured with Ozzfest as main stage acts twice; the band played at the second annual Ozzfest in 1997 and the fifth Ozzfest in 2000. Over the course of their career, Pantera's members became known for their excessive partying and debauchery, even acquiring an official drink called the "Black Tooth Grin". The "Black Tooth Grin" ("Black Tooth," "The Grin," or "BTG," alternatively), named after lyrics from Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets ^{Sweating Bullets (song)} ", is a mixture of Crown Royal or Seagram 7 ^Seagram whisky (or both) and Coca-Cola.

Pantera also adopted a self-described "take no shit" attitude, epitomized in its popular song "5 Minutes Alone" from the album Far Beyond Driven. According to Vinnie Paul, the song originated when, during a show in San Diego ^{San Diego, California} , California, Anselmo was annoyed by a heckler and encouraged the crowd to "jump [his]***and beat the shit out of him on the spot." Consequently, the band was sued; the man's father took action and called Pantera's manager, saying, "You just give me five minutes alone with that Phil Anselmo guy and I'll show him who's big daddy around here," to which Anselmo responded, "You just give me five minutes alone with that cat's dad and I'll whoop his ass."

Similarly, the die-hard attitude of "We'll Grind That Axe For a Long Time" (from Reinventing the Steel) is, according to Anselmo, "in a way, our motto."

Aside from their 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 ^{Hole in the Sky (song)} " 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.Pantera has come under harsh criticism within the heavy metal world in relation to New Orleans thrash metal band Exhorder. Some fans have accused Pantera of stealing from Exhorder the groove metal sound for which they became famous. While Pantera's style change on Cowboys from Hell was released before Exhorder's debut, Slaughter in the Vatican, Exhorder self-released two demos ^{demo (music)} in the late 1980s (around the time that Pantera was still playing glam metal) that a number of fans believe to be the real birth of the musical style Pantera popularized.

Allmusic points to several elements of Exhorder's debut that could potentially explain its lack of success in relation to Pantera. In disagreement with the opinion that Exhorder is "Pantera minus the good songs," AMG's review of Slaughter in the Vatican expresses that "perhaps a more accurate billing would be to call them Pantera without the major label backing." They also point to the fact that the title of Exhorder's debut, along with the unsubtle album cover, "certainly didn't help [its] cause any.";Final lineup
* Phil Anselmo / lead vocals, occasionally live rhythm guitar (1987 / 2003)
* Dimebag Darrell / lead guitar, backing vocals, occasionally live lead vocals or bass (1981 / 2003)
* Rex Brown / bass, backing vocals, occasionally live lead guitar (1982 / 2003)
* Vinnie Paul / drums, percussion (1981 / 2003)
;Previous members
* Terry Glaze / rhythm guitar (1981 / 1982), lead vocals (1982 / 1986)
;Session musicians
* Kerry King / from Slayer outro guitar on Goddamn Electric from Reinventing the Steel (2000)
* Seth Putnam / from Anal Cunt voices on The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
* Marc Ferrari / backing vocals, rhythm guitar on Power Metal ^{Power Metal (album)} (1988) [track 3, "We'll Meet Again" and track 5, "Proud to Be Loud"]
Studio albums


* Metal Magic (1983)
* Projects in the Jungle (1984)
* I Am the Night (1985)
* Power Metal ^{Power Metal (album)} (1988)

* Cowboys from Hell (1990)
* Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
* Far Beyond Driven (1994)
* The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
* Reinventing the Steel (2000)