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PANTERA
1990 - Cowboys From Hell.
1992 - Vulgar Display Of Power.
1994 - Far Beyond Driven.
1996 - The Great Southern Trendkill.
2000 - Reinventing The Steel.
more PANTERA.
way more Helter Skelter.

July 24, 1990 - 2020: 30 years of: Cowboys From Hell.

The most defining 90° turn in heavymetal history !!!

Throughout a career, most bands tone down, incorporate new elements and even venture into new directions ...sometime not even within the same genre said band initially started in ...and then comes PANTERA !

Hot on the glamrock glitz of the 80s, from 1983's sleazy "Ride My Rocket" to 84's Zippo-blazing-hold-me-tight-power-ballad "Only A Heartbeat Away" ...it wasn't until the arrival of new singer Phil Anselmo on 1988's Power Metal that a change was in the air. Yet, Power Metal is still a tried and true hardrock LP, standing side-to-side with the MALMSTEENs and STRYPERs of the moment, yet something ugly was on the horizon. The full make-over came to fruition in 1990: gone was the spray-net, gone was the spandex and gone was the lipstick-attitude ...here comes REAL trouble !

Personally approved by JUDAS PRIEST's Metal God Rob Halford, PANTERA's major-label debut Cowboys From Hell instantly changed the face of heavymetal, forever. Within the first 25 fuckin' seconds of the album, the game changed, for the better, or worse if you happened to be a glamrock fan of their previous work.

12 bloody-tracks of a new powerful music that could simply be labeled as: groove-thrashmetal. Now sporting a war-like mohawk, Anselmo, along bassist Rex Brown and brothers Dimebag Darrell et Vinnie Paul where the new kids on the block, in a heavymetal way ...a modern heavymetal way.

No sword-yielding, dragon-killing and full-moon reincarnations here, no, this is NEW metal for a NEW generation. Nineties heavymetal, with strength, brute force and none of it's past clichés. Gutsy freestyle vocals, volcanic guitar riffs that puts ANTHRAX to shame along with BLACK SABBATH-style bass lines and monstrous drum beats that keeps it all in check. All this chaos under Terry Date's genius production, Cowboys From Hell is the full package.

From the high-pitched hooks of "Clash With Reality", to the machine-gun riff of "Primal Concrete Sledge", to the head-banging fiesta of "Domination", to the slick built-up of " The Art Of Shredding" all the way to the epic powermetal ballad of "Cemetery Gates" ...CFH is 1 full-hour filled with heavy grooves, sick licks and stealthy solos, never a dull moment. This is required listening !

Word on the streets rings on: Who are these guys ?
Well how about: The strongest "debut" album by a "new" band, ever !

In fact, PANTERA would go on to dominate the decadent decade and save heavymetal as a whole, not only sales-wise but sure enough in the "heavy" department as most of the 80s thrashmetal bands abandoned the style, yes we are looking at you METALLICA, and as the scene was now, by 1993, all absorbed by alternative and grunge acts.

Everything's bigger in Texas !!!

*
Cowboys From Hell = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i97OkCXwotE
Cowboys From Hell = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGNHwLicV2g&list=OLAK5uy_n9NV5cj4Bsfb-_mZOTs347LtS7ZBKzQEI
Interview at Pepsi Power Hour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-SyresPiI
Live in Moscow in 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDACorIaxNw&list=PLTpspaXcSuln7z85P-XcI0Ro0mQ57_US1

February 25, 1992 - 2022: 30 years of: Vulgar Display Of Power.

The redneck-stomp !

These street-metal punks are angry, revolted and taking the scene with a punch. The decaying thrashmetal of the early 90s was in serious limbo, in wake of the deathmetal and alternative mainstream take-over, yet Texas shall kick everyone to the curb. By 1992, the thrashmetal-throne was widely vacant by the META + MEGA riff Kings, totally left unattended for the cowboys to reinvent the steel with a vulgar display of southern trendkill !

The fat guitar-tone, the fat drum-tone and Anselmo's fat "Mouth For War" holds and strangles with might. No escape, just total wall-to-wall submission. Heaviness quickly reaches "A New Level", a new style of metal: street-attitude thrashmetal. Hard groove and lively vibe strikes to the core on "No Good (Attack The Radical)" and "Regular People (Conceit)".

1-2-3-4 run as fast as you can, as "Fucking Hostile" is the new sick standard in arrogant-speedmetal, while "By Demons Be Driven" breaks metal-barriers with it's devastating machine-gun riffing. Rudimentary is key and the natural addiction of "Walk" again re-instates PANTERA as the new-school in modern-metal and the dark powerballad template of "This Love" ends with another knock-out.

Their 6th full-length release, their 2nd to some, the shiny RIAA-certified 2x Platinum record left no stone unturned. Raising hell on tour with SKID ROW, WHITE ZOMBIE and SACRED REICH in 1992-93, the fearless feline left worldwide arenas in awe. In an hostile early 90s environment: PANTERA was now the heaviest thrashmetal band on the planet, no contest, what a great time to be alive !

More power shall be vulgarly displayed on the upcoming #1 Billboard 1994's Chart-topping Far Beyond Driven exhibition.

*
Mouth For War = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3JSbOt7CLo
Walk = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkFqg5wAuFk
Vulgar Display Of Power = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESxcRQGkeQ&list=PLxzSZG7g8c8yzm54pdYwGKkIaqW5D7cQ5
Reviewed by Beavis & Butt-Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8plWr2ekeE
Interview in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzYFWOT_s4w
Live in Los Angeles in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suc1odZOjxk
some dude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fGG5_k8yNs

March 22, 1994 - 2024: 30 years of: Far Beyond Driven.

Billboard-topping neo-thrash.

1994 ...while thrashmetal was lost at sea, one band made sure the fort was held strong. One band fought for our rights to mosh and that one band single-handedly supported the genre in the medias. The hellbound cowboys from Hell exhibits a fuckin' vulgar display of power. By demons be driven ...PANTERA dominates.

This is not a drill !

Instant impact as "Strength Beyond Strength" blast-off into a speedmetal rampage. At mid-breakdown they grow into a monster, some of the best metal-mosh of the decade. The assault on the senses grows God-size, stronger than all, they are "Becoming" the most lethal unit on Earth. Armed with a crowbar, fat tone and massive drums, this is thrashmetal's hardcore rebirth.

Street-metal with groove is schooled once again with the leading-single "I'm Broken", while the alt-scene gets pummeled by the art of shredding of "5 Minutes Alone". Don't turn you back, revolution is their name. Speed and hate snaps necks on "Use My Third Arm" and the not so subtle "Slaughtered", while we get a lovely rendition of BLACK SABBATH's "Planet Caravan" as a bonus closing-track.

RIAA-certified Platinum, Billboard-certified Number One and worshipped by die-hards ...1994 didn't stood a chance. Supporting the genre on their shoulders, PANTERA steamrolled throughout the nineties from the undergrounds of America, to the arenas of the world.

Albeit mounting inner-tension, their next Goddamn electric record would be the most DIY recording ever to be released on a major-label: 1996's primal concrete The Great Southern Trendkill CD.

"FUCK YOU AND YOUR COLLEGE DREAM !"

*
I'm Broken = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-V8kYT1pvE
5 Minutes Alone = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m7njvwB-Ks
Planet Caravan = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWChhdIgT6Q
Far Beyond Driven = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRxg8yVhbQY&list=OLAK5uy_kgCe3XwLN3N-QUoKKvLume7MKqAXAUnaU
MTV Interview in 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APFlbmmsqgo
Live at Donington in 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCQnAeREpts
some girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DslWS-qlTK0

May 7, 1996 - 2021: 25 years of: The Great Southern Trendkill.

The sickest release on a major-label in 1996.

Wiping off the post-grunge and alternative scene in one single riff. Aggressive and abrasive in it's truest and purest form, time for the great reset: your trend is dead ! "Fuck your magazine and fuck the long dead plastic scene" ...sums up this entire experience in this sterile mid 90s music-industry.

The dirty title-track blasts-off with some sick vibe and indie-like production. More hate and more street-creds as the band destroys in a full 360° attack. "War Nerve" doesn't disappoint, "Drag The Waters" doesn't disappoint and more metal is brought to the table as "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)" doesn't fuckin' disappoint !

The dark moody Bayou acoustics of "Suicide Note, Pt. I" fills the room with intricate sadness and the brawl bursts in an instant speedmetal attack on "Suicide Note. Pt. II". Some notion of the current stale-state of the great Red, White & Blue is pinned on "The Underground In America" and some deep hardcore exterminates everything with lethal-metal on the corrosive on contact "(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin"

Still riding high from 1994's Billboard #1 Chart-topping Far Beyond Driven CD, PANTERA were the heaviest American band on the metal-landscape. In 1996, thrashmetal was in deep limbo and deathmetal was thrown under the bus by some of it's iconic leaders ...the next heaviest band under the sun was the almighty 101 proof Texan rattlesnakes of PANTERA !

*
Drag The Waters = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hx8TW6sYys
The Great Southern Trendkill = Full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4pOIndfTzI&list=PL1EUuvlGHZVWIxc_wrZwrFsiN8AZeivHG
MTV interview in 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPwr7kChYw0
MusiquePlus interview in 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0v3UvKbCWc
Live in Kansas City in 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y31EUktTdoA

March 21, 2000 - 2020: 20 years of: Reinventing The Steel.

Hey modern-punk wannabes and nümetal posers ...Texas says: FUCK YOU !!!
Your decade of bullshit is over ...YOUR TREND IS DEAD !!!

The rebirth of heavymetal is right here, right now with this new millennium. The year 2000, a glorious return to form from IRON MAIDEN, HALFORD, ANNIHILATOR and ENTOMBED ...and then, a tsunami of good 'ol stinky air was headed yer way motherfucker !

After the über abrasive Great Southern Trendkill CD of 1996, all bets were off. Still loud, still obnoxious and still ugly, the Arlington badasses were back ...time for revengeance !

The boys were "Hellbound" in Fort Worth. Thru fire and brimstone, thrashmetal aggression and grit is all here and this is just the opening-track. They also brings us this fine metal-PSA to: "Put you trust in Whiskey, weed and BLACK SABBATH" ...as this lifestyle is "Goddamn Electric" !

The autobiographical "Revolution Is My Name" and the accompanying video is a metal-school 101, while the violent grooves of "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit" kindly reminds-us that the past is the past, albeit the undisputed fact that PANTERA is one of the world's meanest primal metal-band. Brutality steps-up to new heights on the track "You've Got Belong To It" featuring the behemoth riff with those classics low-high notes duality. The lethal "Death Rattle" stands as one of their most blunt track, ever, throughout their entire catalog.

Thrashmetal is alive, it never went away, it just went a little deeper underground during this last decade. A fucking massive "Hell Yeah !" goes out to PANTERA, as they are the SOLE BAND that waved the flag high among the grunge, alternative, neo-punk and nümetal fashions of this turbulent heavymetal fucking-hostile era.

The far beyond driven cowboys of power started the 90s with a serious kick in the ass and they weren't going out without a fight. Reinventing The Steel did become RIAA-certified Platinum, but sadly, this would be the last PANTERA record ever, as internal turmoil, band breakup and bloody-tragedy would forever dissolve this amazing unit.

RIP Dimebag (1966-2004)
RIP Vinnie Paul (1964-2018)

*
Revolution Is My Name = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XI1DD_vJuY
Reinventing The Steel = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NI4KHtnfSM&list=PLfUV806q_Ri7Kt0JNhQzyT8g2P-H-oCs8
Interview in 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCRtGslIxAc
Live in 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXvFO5Cn5-c
Dimebag jammin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xDfOa7paAU

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