Pantera Albums (10)
'Reinventing the Steel'
Release Date 3/14/2000
Tracks 10
Label East West
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What The Critics Say
Where The Great Southern Trendkill experimented with slower, moodier pieces, Reinventing the Steel finds Pantera sticking to the pulverizing basics of their sound, with the first down-tempo, nondistorted guitar part appearing on the next-to-last track, "It Makes Them Disappear," and vanishing about 15 seconds into the song. In the tradition of the group's best albums, Reinventing the Steel is a nonstop assault on the senses, offering no respite from the intensity until the album has stopped playing. Yet somehow, it comes off as a cut below their best albums; perhaps it's that the band's sound lacks the sense of freshness that sparked Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, and Far Beyond Driven, or perhaps it's simply good in a very predictable way (contrary to its title). Yet even if Pantera is firmly entrenched in a signature sound, it's a distinctive, highly effective signature sound that most of the band's fans don't want to hear changed; plus, Dimebag Darrell is still one of the most inventive guitar players in heavy metal. The bottom line is that the way you feel about Reinventing the Steel will likely depend on whether you object to more of the same; if not, then the lean focus of its attack -- the most concise, actually, since Vulgar Display -- will make it more than worthwhile. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'Official Live: 101 Proof'
Release Date 7/29/1997
Tracks 16
Label EastWest
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What The Critics Say
Official Live: 101 Proof hits most, but not quite all, of the high points of Pantera's career ("Psycho Holiday" and "Mouth for War" are two notable omissions), drawing most heavily from Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven. There are also two new studio tracks tacked on to the end to entice the more casual fan who might find a live album redundant; however, Pantera's devoted fans will pick it up anyway, and they won't be disappointed. Pantera packs just as much of a wallop live as in the studio, even if the versions here aren't substantially different (other than a medley of "Domination" and "Hollow"). One warning: Phil Anselmo's amazing streams of nonstop vulgarities in between songs will appeal more to the adolescent fan who finds them a liberating way to vent frustration; others may find them predictable and approaching idiotic. But that shouldn't detract from the music and performances, which are uniformly strong, as fans would expect. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'The Great Southern Trendkill'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 11
Label Atlantic
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What The Critics Say
Thankfully, Pantera has stopped attempting to outdo each successive album in terms of start-to-finish intensity, but that doesn't mean they don't try in spots. The Great Southern Trendkill is burdened with passages in which Phil Anselmo's vocals cross the line into histrionics, making the band's trademark intensity sound dull, forced, and theatrical rather than sincere. The lyrics, which reached their apex with Vulgar Display of Power's focus on personal politics and integrity, have degenerated into half-baked rants against drugs and pop-culture media. But Trendkill is partially redeemed by trading Pantera's usual pound-then-pound-harder approach to albums for a greater variety of tempos and moods. Dimebag Darrell, while mostly sticking to his familiar riffing style, does coax some intriguing, unexpected sounds from his instrument. Ultimately, though, the ballads and slower tracks ("10's," "Suicide Note, Pt. 1," and "Floods") provide the album's most chilling, memorable moments, and rank with their best material. Longtime Pantera fans will find plenty to enjoy here, and the band's expanding range bodes well, but overall, Trendkill is an inconsistent outing. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Far Beyond Driven may have been Pantera's fastest selling album upon release, but it's hardly their best. In fact, although it shot straight to the number one spot on the Billboard sales chart in its first week (arguably the most extreme album ever to do so), this incredible feat doesn't so much reflect its own qualities as those of its predecessor, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power. A true landmark by any definition, Vulgar Display had seen the Texan quartet quite literally reinventing the heavy metal wheel in ways not seen since Metallica's rise to fame in the mid-'80s. But when the time came to follow it up, the members of Pantera seemed unsure about how they could possibly top it, so they decided to try and out-heavy themselves, resulting in a less cohesive record which often sacrificed songwriting for outright aggression. Guitarist Dimebag Darrell (recently re-baptized from the far more glam Diamond Darrell) took it upon himself to conjure the heaviest guitar tones imaginable, turning up the volume and dissonance to sometimes painful thresholds with his massive, grinding riffs. As a result, songs like "Becoming," "Shedding Skin," and the particularly vicious "Slaughtered" still stand head and shoulders above most of the heavy metal competition, but only die-hard fans may be able to withstand their systematic sensory bludgeoning long enough to get to the hooks hidden underneath. Indeed, except for wisely chosen first single "I'm Broken," the rest of the material (and especially over-long tracks like "5 Minutes Alone" and "25 Years") generally lacks the iron-fisted discipline and controlled power captured on the band's previous triumphs. Worst of all is probably "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills," which wanders aimlessly in formless feedback and is topped with vocalist Phil Anselmo in gratuitous, stream-of-consciousness mode -- a sketchy proposition at the best of times. In the end, it's probably the band's need to justifying their faithful cover version of Black Sabbath's gentle "Planet Caravan" in the album's liner notes that sheds the most light on their embattled frame of mind at the time. With or without this evidence, however, the bottom line is that Far Beyond Driven doesn't match the hype -- but it sure proved its weight in platinum at the bank. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Vulgar Display of Power'
Release Date 2/25/1992
Tracks 11
Label EastWest
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What The Critics Say
One of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s, Vulgar Display of Power is just what is says: a raw, pulverizing, insanely intense depiction of naked rage and hostility that drains its listeners and pounds them into submission. Even the "ballads," "This Love" and "Hollow," have thunderingly loud, aggressive chorus sections. Preaching power through strength and integrity, Phil Anselmo discards any further attempts at singing in favor of a militaristic bark and an unhinged roar, while the crystal-clear production sets Diamond Darrell's pummeling riffs against a rhythmic backdrop so thunderously supportive that Darrell often solos without underlying rhythm guitar parts. The album again follows Cowboys from Hell's strategy of stacking the best songs at the beginning and letting their momentum carry the listener through the rest, but the riffs and sonic textures are more consistently interesting this time around. Pantera's thick-sounding, post-hardcore power metal and outraged, testosterone-drenched intensity would help pave the way for alternative metal acts like Korn and Tool; Vulgar Display of Power is the best distillation of those virtues. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Pantera's breakthrough album, Cowboys from Hell, is largely driven by the band's powerful rhythm section and guitarist Diamond Darrell (as he was then known)'s unbelievably forceful riffing, which skittered around the downbeats to produce unexpected rhythmic phrases and accents, as well as his inventive soloing. Phil Anselmo displayed a vocal range that could switch from a growling shout to a high falsetto -- listen to him match Darrell's harmonic squeals at the end of "Cemetery Gates." The album gradually becomes more same-sounding as it goes on, but the first half, featuring such brutal slices of thrash as "Psycho Holiday," "Primal Concrete Sledge," and the title track, pretty much carries its momentum all the way through. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Pantera's oft-forgotten third album, 1985's I Am the Night, was, like its two predecessors, an Abbott family affair, financed and produced by Diamond Darrell and Vinnie Paul's father, then independently released and therefore doomed to almost certain failure for lack of record company muscle to promote it. Of course, in retrospect, this proved to be a blessing in disguise, by allowing the young musicians to develop their talents in relative obscurity, while giving the latter-day, much different version of Pantera the singular opportunity of burying the "shameful" evidence of these formative years, when they were, at best, a token '80s heavy metal band. Obstinate fans still manage to track down pirated copies, though, and those who hear Pantera's first three albums will realize that, come I Am the Night, the quartet had discarded many of its worst glam rock offenses and balanced the rest (including sporadic bits of electronic percussion) with ample doses of both traditional and speed metal. As a result, I Am the Night alternates numerous fist-pumping heavy metal anthems reminiscent of Judas Priest ("Onward We Rock," "Daughters of the Queen") or Ratt ("Come-On Eyes," "Down on the Edge") with a few supersonic hair metal blasts like "Down Below," "Valhalla," and the title track -- plus just one ballad, "Forever Tonight," which is wisely left for last. In fact, original vocalist Terry Lee Glaze's screechy yelps and unfathomably puerile lyrics (none dumber than on the otherwise decent opener, "Hot and Heavy") are the only glaring weaknesses shared by all of these tracks, making it even more ironic that it was he who quit the group after this album's release. And at the opposite end of the qualitative spectrum were Diamond Darrell's often jaw-dropping riffs and solos, holding the songs together with iron-fisted precision, while he continued to expand his guitar-shredding arsenal with the expertly controlled dissonant effects (like impossibly bent strings, squealing harmonics, and dive-bombing runs) that would years later distinguish Pantera's sound from all their competitors. As with all of Pantera's "forgotten" albums, it is invariably Darrell's playing that makes these growing pains more tolerable, and also helps to make sense of how they became one of the only heavy metal bands in history to grow more commercially successful by becoming more extreme. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Projects in the Jungle'
Release Date 1/1/1984
Tracks 10
Label Metal Magic
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What The Critics Say
As impossible as it may seem, only a minority of Pantera fans seem to realize that the groundbreaking Texas quartet's career did not begin with the blueprint-defining extreme groove-metal of 1990's Cowboys from Hell, but rather seven years and four studio albums earlier, with a different lead singer and a virtually unrecognizable sound rooted in the comparatively heretical gimmicks of '80s glam metal. This "terrifying" prospect is indeed certified historical fact, however, and despite the surviving bandmembers' insistence on suppressing circulation of those out of print early albums, most of those who have heard them agree that this is all much ado about very little, once the initial surprise subsides. Having said that, 1984's Projects in the Jungle may be guilty of more '80s metal clichés than its surrounding releases, since it caught Pantera in the act of distilling their original '70s influences (Kiss, Judas Priest, Van Halen) with modern traits borrowed from the new decade's rising glam metal stars, such as Ratt, Mötley Crüe, and especially Def Leppard. Yes, Diamond Darrell was still beholden to the gospel of Edward Van Halen (so much so that he tendered his own "Eruption" with the 90-second solo spotlight "Blue Light Turnin' Red"), but his ever more dominant guitar work was also capable of saving otherwise forgettable efforts like the title track and "Only a Heartbeat Away" from total iniquity. And if anything, Projects in the Jungle was a riff album, with the guitarist possibly looking to Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil for the inspiration behind highlights "All Over Tonight" and "Like Fire," while providing tantalizing glimpses of Pantera's future via occasional speed metal thrillers like "Out for Blood" and "Killers." On the downside, knee-jerk pop-metal exercises such as "In Over My Head" and "Takin' My Life" sounded, at best, like low-budget Def Leppard, and frontman Terry Glaze's ear-assaulting screeches, robotic squawks, and frequently moronic lyrics (see possible worst offender "Heavy Metal Rules") could only be forgiven in a world where Joe Elliott, Vince Neil, and Stephen Pearcy were considered bona fide "singers." Still, in the balance of things, Projects in the Jungle's songs constituted a major improvement over the band's tentative performance on debut album Metal Magic, and its much improved production clarity and musicianship spoke volumes of Pantera's growing professionalism and maturity. And, heck, as cock rock albums go, Projects in the Jungle was actually rather good. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Later disowned by Pantera once they'd discovered Metallica and reinvented themselves as an extreme metal powerhouse via 1990's Cowboys from Hell, 1983's Metal Magic was the band's true debut album, and the first of three independently released LPs featuring original vocalist Terrence Lee Glaze, who was of course eventually replaced by the notorious Philip Anselmo. Back at the start, though, Glaze, brothers "Diamond" Darrell Abbott (guitar) Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott (drums), and bassist Rex Brown were a rudderless young heavy rock band and, in many ways, were as wanting for musical direction as American heavy metal in general, which was teetering on the brink of exploding in popularity along two very distinct stylistic paths: thrash and glam metal. Being that they were huge fans of Kiss, Van Halen, and Judas Priest, perhaps it's not so surprising that Pantera initially chose the latter route, but in all fairness, it's also unlikely that the now much maligned Metal Magic would have fared any better as a thrash album, given their youth and inexperience. In any case, with the exception of a few bright spots like the simple but well-constructed "I'll Be Alright" and "Widowmaker" and the shred-tastic second half of "Rock Out," Metal Magic was dominated by exceedingly average hard rock and metal misfires ("Latest Lover," "Sad Lover," the title cut, etc.) or failed attempts at more commercial fare like the borderline AOR of "Nothing On (But the Radio)" and synthesizer-enabled fiascos "Tell Me If You Want It" and the power ballad "Biggest Part of Me." Not surprisingly, Metal Magic's strongest asset from start to finish was the already discernible talent of guitar hero in waiting Diamond Darrell, even though his biggest preoccupation at the time seemed to be paying tribute to his idol, Ace Frehley, via the especially memorable "Ride My Rocket." Needles to say, though, Pantera had their work cut out for them, so at least Metal Magic set them on their way, as they began accumulating much needed experience as the local concert openers of choice for visiting national acts like Quiet Riot, Dokken, and Stryper. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Although hidden away by the band and dismissed as fluffy hair metal by most, the four albums that came before Cowboys from Hell were far more along the lines of Judas Priest with a little Shout at the Devil-era Mötley Crüe tossed in. Power Metal, the first to feature Phil Anselmo on vocals, was the first of these albums to point toward the direction the group chose in 1990. Although this is still quite based in the time period, songs like "Rock the World" are heavier and more anthemic than their reputation would make you think. The lyrics are the biggest problem, showing none of the gutter poetry that Anselmo would develop through time and instead reflecting a bland interest in all things "rock," from the misogynistic "P.S.T. 88" to the stereotypical "Proud to Be Loud." The music is pure '80s power metal, with Dimebag Darrell pumping out speedy riffs like he had just joined Lizzy Borden. This is actually one of the more charming elements of the band's early sound, as he was obviously a very talented guitarist even then. Pantera was a rough-edged combo before Anselmo incorporated his Sheer Terror and Exhorder influences, but Power Metal is an interesting and transitional early effort from one of the most important metal bands of the '90s. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
