PANTERA

PAGE UPDATED IN 2023

Reviewed:
- Cowboys from Hell (1990)
- Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
- Far Beyond Driven (1994)
- The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
- Official Live: 101 Proof (1997, live album)
- Reinventing the Steel (2000)
- Reinventing Hell: The Best of Pantera (2003, compilation)


COWBOYS FROM HELL         1990          (Atco)
Standouts: 'Cowboys from Hell', 'Primal Concrete Sledge', 'Psycho Holiday', 'Heresy', 'Cemetery Gates', 'Domination', 'Shattered', 'Message in Blood', 'The Art of Shredding'

Now here's a band that ended up forging a path for modern metal - for better or worse. Dimebag Darrell (or 'Diamond Darrell' as he was still known as at this point, RIP) was an innovative guitarist that brought all the heavy-ass riffs you could ever want to the table, but he had a ton of groove to his playing, and his lead playing was ear-piercing. I guess you could dub the man the 'godfather of groove metal'. Dime's older brother Vinnie Paul (who passed away in 2018) was a great drummer too. I must admit, groove metal is a genre I don't dislike, but it's one that rarely has me excited. I mean, I like Lamb of God, but not nearly to same extent as their overall popularity within the metal world would suggest. Pantera however, are a band I love. Well, used to love anyway. It's not that I don't enjoy hearing them anymore, they're just one of the few bands that I used to love growing up, that I now only really listen to every once in a while. 

1990's Cowboys from Hell however, is a stone-cold metal classic that is by far my favourite Pantera record and one that does still deserve the same praise I would have given it fifteen or so years ago, today. For a lot of people in 1990, this would have been their first exposure to the band, yet Cowboys from Hell isn't actually the debut album. They'd actually released four independent LP's prior throughout the 80's - all of them had terrible artwork and sat closer to glam/traditional heavy metal than what they were churning out on Cowboys. And no, I don't actually own any of those records - they've all been out of print since as long as I can remember, and all sell for crazy money. As much as I'd like to have those in my collection, I can't justify their prices. Still, those 80's records tend to be brushed aside by critics, acting like Cowboys is the 'real' debut album from Pantera. It isn't of course, but whatever.

Well, the first half of this album is absolute gold. It doesn't get much better than the opening title track, with that unbelievably awesome main riff and great vocal hooks from Phil Anselmo ("You see us comin' and you all together RUN FOR COVER!!"). It's easy to see why they had so much impact on the metal world by this point. And speaking of Phil Anselmo, all I can say is that his vocal style with this band kind of took a downturn after Cowboys from Hell. He's fucking awesome here, but a couple of years later he'd adopt this 'tough guy' demeanour and stop actually trying to sing. Yeah it suited the music, but the man was surprisingly diverse as his performance on this record proves (I'd also argue that his vocal approach to his other band, the sludgy Down, was much cooler than the bulk of his work with Pantera). So, anyway, the first half of this album - stupidly strong stuff. 'Primal Concrete Sledge' (whatever that means) is a short, sweet, riff-tastic and thrashy affair that kicks arse. 'Psycho Holiday' is probably my favourite song here in general, with that absolutely thunderous opening riff, and surprisingly catchy vocal lines.

'Heresy' is seriously underrated; it has some insanely fast riffing on it, and is pretty much a full-on thrash assault. By contrast, 'Cemetery Gates' is a ballad, but a really fucking strong one. This is how you do a heavy metal ballad friends; make the verses melodic and cleanly-sung, but make throw in plenty of ridiculously heavy choruses and squealing guitar solos. Another drop-dead classic. I also love 'Domination', which brings back the thrashy intensity of 'Heresy', but with that trademark hint of groove to the riffs. To be fair, the second half of this album - while not quite up to the same standard as the first half overall - is still very good. 'Shattered' is another favourite of mine, and almost sounds like something from Judas Priest's Painkiller. See, this is what I'm talking about when I spoke of Phil sounding better during this period than he would later on down the line with this band. On 'Shattered', he manages to sound like Rob Halford - he would never attempt this again on later records, as far as I'm aware. Musically though, this song also has that Judas Priest vibe and I absolutely love it. 

'Clash with Reality' is definitely a sign of what was to come. This song is groove metal to the max (save for the thrashy climax), with riffs that parallel later material from albums such as Far Beyond Driven and Vulgar Display of Power. I dig the twisted nature of 'The Sleep' too - this song is full of weird, unconventional riffs and cool, moody acoustic intro. The closing cut, 'The Art of Shredding' is another blazing thrash number - the middle part of this song is pure Metallica worship, and I mean that in a good way. 

'Medicine Man' is probably the weakest track here, but even so, it manages to be decent in it's own right. It just has some very subtle touches of late-90's nu metal (*gasp!*) here and there that make me slightly uncomfortable! Still, the vocals are excellent, and Dime's solo never gets old. 'Message in Blood', again, is not even remotely 'bad', it's just lacking something that many of the other songs have. The riffs are there alright, I guess it's just the vocal arrangements.

Yes, I like the later albums, just not as much as I do this one! Growing up listening to thrash and traditional heavy metal, more-so than any groove metal, I suppose I like Cowboys from Hell the most by default really. Every song here is either brilliant, great, or just plain good - and they're topped off with timeless production. I do honestly feel that ten songs would have flowed better, and made more sense than the twelve we were given, but this is a minor niggle at the end of the day. And I'm not going to call this 'one of the best metal albums of all time'. One of the best of the 90's for sure, but not ever. Still, like I said in the beginning of this review, I don't really listen to Pantera all that much anymore these days, but I still can't help but crank this one up - even in my thirties!

Adam's rating: 9.2/10

VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER          1992          (Atco)
- Standouts: 'Mouth for War', 'A New Level', 'Walk', 'Fucking Hostile', 'This Love', 'Rise', 'Hollow'

This album is often cited as Pantera's best, but you know I think Cowboys from Hell is better. Uh, unless you skipped over the last review that is. I will admit that Vulgar Display of Power is the album that tends to summarise Pantera's sound and reputation best (unless you go by some of the miserable Metal-Archives elitists that is...); generally, the later albums followed a similar formula to this one. And I'll admit that the songs that I do like here, I really like. 'Mouth for War' and 'A New Level' are fucking excellent; the riffs absolutely crush, and everything's gotten heavier in general since Cowboys, from the riffs to Phil's new and more aggressive vocal style. But better? Nahhh... not necessarily. Most of the thrash metal influences are gone now - this is a pure 90's groove metal affair, with some fast moments here and there. 'Fucking Hostile' is fast as hell, and certainly thrashy enough - and also very, very good. But mostly, this album is slower and groovier - and heavier of course. Still, as I said, I do love a handful of tracks on this one. Along with 'Mouth for War', 'Fucking Hostile' and 'A New Level', I've always had a soft spot the ballad 'This Love'. It's not quite in the same as 'Cemetery Gates' for me, but it's still very good and focuses more on being moody, atmospheric and heavier if anything. 

'Rise' has the fastest riff on the entire album, but it transitions between a mid-tempo number and a frantic one all the same. Yeah, it's another strong cut, better than 'No Good (Attack the Radical)' anyway. Not that this one is bad of course, there's just some sort of 'nu metal' aftertaste about it that I can't seem to shake off. I don't particularly like 'Live in a Hole' all that much either. I just find it kind of boring and tuneless, honestly. 'Regular People (Conceit)' is thankfully better, with it's tight, chugging riffs and style, but it's still not quite in the same league as anything from the first half. Same can't be said for 'By Demons Be Driven', which once again kind of bores me despite it's heaviness. I do enjoy closer 'Hollow' however, mostly for the fact the album needs some melody at this point. It's a ballad of sort, not as good or heavy as 'This Love', but still memorable and featuring some fantastic lead guitar work.

The main song here that everybody remembers is of course, 'Walk'. It's one of those songs that I thought was like, the best thing ever when I first heard it in school. I liked it so much in fact, that I saved all my paper-round wages long enough to buy a Dean ML guitar, like Dime's. I can't deny this song's importance on modern metal, with it's simple, slow, and ridiculously heavy two-fret riff, but in 2023 I'm understandably pretty bored of 'Walk'. Like 'Paranoid', 'Master of Puppets', 'Raining Blood' and 'The Trooper', this is one of those trademark heavy metal songs that I'll hear every so often just by being at certain concert venues, rock-themed pubs or music festivals. Somebody somewhere will play 'Walk' at some point. And like I said, I used to love it as a teen. But when you've heard it that many fucking times by the time you hit your early thirties, I don't think I ever need to hear it again by choice. Except I just did for this review. Meh, I can't exactly not call it a standout.

I have other complaints too. I don't really care that much about the lyrics and Phil's overall attitude just being dumber than the last record's vibe, but it's still worth noting. His vocals though, are definitely less impressive this time. He doesn't do the Halford impressions anymore; I get that the new, angry Phil is better-suited for the music, but Pantera are a metal band, not a hardcore band (then again, the album artwork depicts a guy getting punched in the fucking face). I dunno, I don't dislike his performance on any Pantera album at the end of the day, it's just that his vocals on Cowboys from Hell were something special. I will give credit to Terry Date's production however - this record in general sounds fantastic, better than the former.

As good as this record is, I really can't agree that it's their best. Just 'cos it has 'Walk' on it, doesn't automatically put it at the top of the pile! Even though Vulgar Display of Power is the album that really made them a big deal within the metal scene, (spoilers) I actually think they'd do better than this with their next album. Maybe even the one after that as well, as I'll be revisiting it soon too. But my main gripe is the fact that the music just seems less creative here to me compared to the predecessor. Cowboys from Hell is like a mixture of what made thrash great, combined with the new and upcoming groove metal style. Vulgar Display of Power is just a full-on 90's groove metal record. If that's your thing, then great, but aside from five absolutely classic cuts, the rest of this album is just 'decent, but not great' for me personally. 

Not giving this thing an 8/10 feels weird given it's overall popularity, but I honestly don't care for a few of these songs, namely 'No Good (Attack the Radical)', 'Live in a Hole' and 'By Demons Be Driven'. Even if there are some fantastic tracks here, realistically there's just not enough of 'em for me to consider this a great album.
Adam's rating: 7.9/10


FAR BEYOND DRIVEN          1994          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'Strength Beyond Strength', 'Becoming', '5 Minutes Alone', 'I'm Broken', 'Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks', 'Shedding Skin', '25 Years', 'Use My Third Arm'

Similar to Vulgar Display of Power, but in my opinion more consistent. Aside from the stupid filler number 'Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills' whereby Phil drools his way through lyrics about fucking your girlfriend while you sleep, the good songs on Far Beyond Driven are even stronger than the good songs on Vulgar, which were great in the first place. Nastier too. This has 'Strength Beyond Strength', 'Becoming' and 'I'm Broken' on it, which automatically makes it a better record in my opinion.

'Strength Beyond Strength' is a lesson in pure brutality; it's lethal, bordering on death metal at times. Even the groovy part towards the end is twisted as fuck. 'Becoming' isn't actually perfect, but goddamn the fast riffs are! That reason alone is enough for this one to qualify as one of the best songs here for sure. As for 'I'm Broken' - once again, when Dimebag delivers, he really is a riff maestro. Yeah, yeah, groove metal's not a favourite subgenre of mine, but Dime is one man whose riffs stack up to any of his contemporary's in other metal genres. 'I'm Broken' is proof of this. I mean, damn! '5 Minutes Alone' though, is very good too, even if it's not quite up to the same standard as my three favourites from this disc. It's a stupendously heavy, chuggy mid-tempo affair, with insanely detuned guitars and a ton of groove. 

I like 'Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks' a lot too. This track dabbles with the sludgy, doomy riffage of bands like Crowbar, but also blends it with the undeniable groove of Pantera. The result is a really cool number. 'Slaughtered' is a bordering on cookie-cutter Pantera, but it's heavy as hell, the groove is fun enough and the guitar tones on this record in general make even the most lazy Dime riffs enjoyable. 

'25 Years' too, is kinda sludgy in a way. People online are calling 'Shedding Skin' a ballad, which makes zero sense to me. I mean, it has a couple of mellow parts, but they're weird and fucked up-sounding. No real melody, and the whole song is as twisted as anything else here. 'Use My Third Arm', along with 'Strength Beyond Strength' dips into extreme metal territory once again and is tied for the heaviest track on this album. 

Ending the album with a cover of Black Sabbath's trippy, mystical ballad 'Planet Caravan' wouldn't be my first choice, but it's not terrible either. The band move away from the psychedelic nature of the original, but still close enough to be recognisable. Yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to the OG version, but it's still okay I guess. In terms of actual complaints, well, Phil's now light years away from his diverse vocal performance that was Cowboys from Hell. Excluding 'Planet Caravan', he's in full-on aggro mode throughout, shouting, screeching, growling his way through almost every song... which is fine considering the heaviness of the music, but once again, the man's capable of so much more! The other thing I can say is that like most Pantera albums, I rarely listen to this thing from start to finish. I tend to just pick out my favourite songs and not bother with the rest. Weird, because I like this a lot from start to finish, yet the standouts still manage to be a lot better than the remainder of the record. It's kinda hard to explain. Not a huge deal in the end though.

I'm not the biggest fan of the entire Vulgar Display of Power, even if it does have a handful of tracks on it that are among Pantera's best. So I almost feel hypocritical in liking Far Beyond Driven a fair amount more. Thing is though, this album just amplifies the predecessor's formula, delivering even heavier songs, and more consistently good ones at that. Stronger production too. It's never gonna top Cowboys from Hell for me, but it definitely qualifies as a classic in my books. And I don't think there's a lot of classic groove metal records, but this is certainly one of them.

Adam's rating: 8.6/10


THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL          1996          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'The Great Southern Trendkill', 'War Nerve', 'Drag the Waters', '10's', 'Suicide Note Pt. I', 'Suicide Note Pt. II', 'Floods', 'The Underground in America', '(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin'

I'm not gonna call this album 'underrated' because anything released by Pantera post-Power Metal still gets plenty of attention from the metal community. But you rarely see The Great Southern Trendkill at the top of any critic album rankings. Not entirely sure why, I guess it's because it's lacking in the 'signature tracks' department, i.e. there's not as many songs here that tend to appear in 'greatest hits' playlists as the previous three. But don't let that put you off - there's a lot of great stuff on here.

For starters, the opening title track is a crushingly heavy groove-based opener, but it also has these cool grindcore-like segments, complete with screaming guest vocals from none other than Anal Cunt's Seth Putnam - RIP by the way. It's an unsung Pantera classic in my eyes, I love it. 'War Nerve' is stupidly heavy too, sludgy and sloppy, yet still retains some form of groove in it's riffs. Another excellent cut. I suppose 'Drag the Waters' is a better known track from this record. It's a fairly simplistic number, but it's heavy and memorable, which is probably why it was released as one of the singles from this album. '10's' is kind of a ballad I suppose, a sleazy, moody kind of messed-up one at that, yet I still feel the emotion in Dime's playing on this track. It works, and it works well. Same can't really be said for generic '13 Steps to Nowhere', which I don't dislike, it just feels like it was thrown together to separate '10's' from 'Suicide Note'.

Speaking of which, one the most notable tracks here is indeed 'Suicide Note'. It comes in two parts (across two tracks) - the first part is basically a brooding acoustic Southern rock song with 12-string guitars, and a really good one at that. Not really Pantera-like as such, but certainly comparable to some of the stuff Down did (and that country metal project Rebel Meets Rebel for that matter). The second half however, absolutely slays! This track is full of aggression and all these cool little guitar whammy effects. 'Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)' is a nice blend of thrash and groove metal, but is kinda overshadowed by the ballad 'Floods'. I use the term 'twisted' a lot when I describe Pantera's music - but it's true. Even the ballads got more twisted and unsettling as time progressed. Yeah this is a ballad, with some clean guitars and melody - but it sure ain't what you'd call 'pretty'. It's an ugly, slow, haunting and disturbing mess of a ballad, and I love it.

'The Underground in America' is pretty damn cool too. The guitar tone and grooves on it are so fucking heavy that every time I feel the urge to call Dime overrated and say things like "If he were still alive today, he'd get nowhere near the credit he gets!" or some such crap, I quickly re-evaluate my thinking! 'The Underground in America' merges into the closing '(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin', which ends the album on another strong riff-fest.

Surprisingly enough, I feel the band actually often toned things down a little on this CD (not always, as evidenced with 'Suicide Note Pt. II' and 'The Great Southern Trendkill') - and somehow made it work in their favour. The album is more than heavy enough to satisfy my needs, but the whole thing feels slightly more mature than the profanity-fest that was Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven. I like Far Beyond Driven a lot - but I feel like they didn't need to take that formula any further. And that they didn't. So when it all comes down to it, I honestly prefer this one to it's predecessor. The songs don't always immediately grab your attention in the same way that 'I'm Broken' or 'Becoming' did, but the album as a whole is more enjoyable with repeated listens. This, along with Cowboys from Hell, are their two best albums in my opinion.

Adam's rating: 9/10


OFFICIAL LIVE: 101 PROOF         1997         (Eastwest)
Meh, I mean this isn't exactly a terrible effort for a live record overall - the music is tight for sure, but it's still fairly underwhelming overall. Aside from Phil's rants between the songs, the performances sound a little too close their studio counterparts to really have that live, organic sound. The only surprise I had was the random transition into Ted Nugent's 'Cat Scratch Fever' after the chorus to 'Cowboys from Hell'. Aside from that, this CD almost feels like a 'greatest hits' package than it does a live album. I'm sure if you were actually there, this would have been a crushing gig to have witnessed, but if I want to hear a good live record, I'll just stick Deep Purple's Made in Japan on instead. The good news is that you get two new studio tracks, 'Where You Come From' and 'I Can't Hide'.
Adam's rating: 6/10


REINVENTING THE STEEL          2000          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'Hellbound', 'Goddamn Electric', 'You've Got to Belong to It', 'Revolution Is My Name', 'Death Rattle', 'Uplift'

Unlike the previous four major-label releases, this one doesn't get nearly the same level of love and attention. It has a mediocre reputation. Obviously I can't ignore the terrible fucking album cover, how that thing made the final product is baffling. But in terms of the songs, I don't think this album is nearly as bad as a lot of other reviewers like to point out. Maybe a little more generic than normal, and certainly not as strong overall as the last four, but definitely not bad.

The album kicks off with 'Hellbound', which is a nice and short heavy number that immediately keeps me interested. I really enjoy the solo on 'Goddamn Electric', and the rest of the song has a chugging groove that you've come to expect from this band. Not an all-time classic by any means, but still decent. 'Yesterday Don't Mean Shit', despite the lame title, brings up the tempo and is fun enough. The riffs are bordering on cookier-cutter content, but Dime's playing style is so distinctive and enjoyable that I can honestly look past this. I do think 'You've Got to Belong to It' is a true deep cut, hidden gem though. The opening riff is cool as fuck, and this whole song is pretty nuts actually. Underrated. 'Death Rattle' is a frantic, thrashy piece, and one that stands out for me. 'Uplift' is a nice and straightforward slab of heavy groove metal

There is one track here that's always been a favourite of mine, out of anything this band put out, and that's 'Revolution is My Name'. The riffing kicks ass, and the song as a whole manages to be insanely catchy in terms of the music itself and Phil's vocal arrangements. Some of these albums I may like more than others, but each of the major-label records have at least a handful of classics on them. And the production here is as good as ever too.

In terms of complaints, 'We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time' doesn't live up to it's cool-sounding title sadly. It's not terrible by any means, but it's certainly a bit on the filler side of things. Again, Dime's trademark guitars save it from being flat-out boring, but this is mid-tempo Pantera at their most average. Same thing goes for 'It Makes them Disappear' and album closer 'I'll Cast a Shadow'. And like I said before, there's definitely a generic feeling to this album at times that I just can't shake off. Even if the whole thing is listenable from start to finish, it just doesn't have as many legitimately great songs on it as the other four. Their songwriting greatness had already plateaued prior, and the band subsequently split-up in 2003. Of course, Dimebag was suddenly and tragically shot and murdered on stage in 2004 with the band Damageplan, so we never got another studio album from Pantera ever again. Vinnie Paul unexpectedly passed away in 2018, but something tells me if both Abbott brothers were still alive today, we'd have seen some form of Pantera reunion and possibly even a new studio record by this point. Of course, recently Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown have started touring again as Pantera, as a celebration of the music, with Zakk Wylde handling guitars and Charlie Benante behind the drum kit, but they'll never record new material together. Or at least, I'd like to think so. Would seem kind of disrespectful if they did.

Anyhow, this isn't exactly the greatest swansong album you'll ever hear, but it's still worth owning. Now I've gotta spend all my money on those 80's, independent Pantera albums!

Adam's rating: 7.2/10


REINVENTING HELL: THE BEST OF PANTERA          2003          (Rhino)

I picked this compilation up when I was about fourteen years old, and it was my gateway into Pantera. I listened to it religiously for about a year, until I started buying more of their albums. I certainly got my money's worth then, but there's only sixteen tracks in total here, and I can think of plenty of songs that should be present, but aren't. 'Floods', both parts to 'Suicide Note', 'Psycho Holiday', 'A New Level', 'Strength Beyond Strength' - these are all missing. Even stranger is the fact that the US version has a slightly different tracklisting and even has a different title (The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboy's Vulgar Hits! - not quite as memorable as 'Reinventing Hell' if you ask me...). It does at least have two rare tracks - 'Immortally Insane' and a Poison Idea cover, 'The Badge' - so I guess it's worth having for serious collectors. It also comes with a bonus DVD featuring all the music videos, which is actually pretty cool and made the whole package worth it back in the day. Kind of irrelevant now because everything's on YouTube these days, but I used to watch it every so often all those years ago before YouTube was really a thing.