PANTERA

Formed: 1981, Dallas, Texas

Members: "Dimebag" (formerly "Diamond") Darrell Abbott, guitar (born Dallas, Texas, 20 August 1966); Vinnie Paul Abbott, drums (born Dallas, Texas, 11 March 1964); Philip Anselmo, vocals (born New Orleans, Louisiana, 30 June 1968); Rex "Rocker" Brown, bass (born Graham, Texas, 27 July 1964).

Genre: Heavy Metal, Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Vulgar Display of Power (1992)

Hit songs since 1990: "Planet Caravan," "Cat Scratch Fever," "Revolution Is My Name"

One of the most intense metal bands to ever hit number one on Billboard 's album chart, Pantera became synonymous with the outer limits of rock aggression.

The group was formed by high school friends in Dallas. All the original members have remained except for vocalist Terry Glaze, who was replaced by David Peacock and finally Philip Anselmo, who joined in 1986. Pantera churned out a trio of clichéd metal albums from 1983 to 1985 whose only hints of future success came with Abbott's expert guitar solos.

Cowboys from Hell (1990) smartly avoids the gaudy quasi-Satanic imagery that typified the band's obscure 1980s output. With superb timing, they got the glam and big hair out of their system before they found fame. The album still contains some vestiges of 1980s excess, with Anselmo's voice at times rising to a shriek on the searing ballad "Cemetery Gates" and the apocalyptic "Shattered." But Anselmo's roaring vocals and the industrial-strength guitar and drum attack on "Psycho Holiday" and "The Art of Shredding" make it clear that this is no-hair band.

Vulgar Display of Power (1992) cemented Pantera's reputation as metal's rising stars, perhaps Metallica's heir apparent. The CD received virtually no airplay but caught on thanks to MTV, touring, and word-of-mouth. Speed metal "F***ing Hostile" is a half-sung, half-screamed polemic against religion and police who bust more tokers than muggers. Using two bass drums, Vinnie Paul Abbott creates a militaristic rhythmic blast that earned him the nickname "the Brick Wall."

By 1993 Pantera was a household name among head-bangers, and with Metallica taking its time between albums, Pantera's emergence as a talented and uncompromising counterpart was welcome news to fans dismayed to see grunge grabbing the spotlight. Far Beyond Driven (1994) was a number one debut—the group had never even had an album in the Top 40 before. The group's high commercial watermark of the 1990s, it continues the group's trend toward bleaker, more antisocial themes. On "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills," Anselmo languidly drawls a sordid tale of drug use and sex over jagged guitar riffs, while "Strength Beyond Strength" dramatizes a drug pusher's grandiose boasts. However, the album did mark the group's first foray onto mainstream radio, with their cover of the Black Sabbath ballad "Planet Caravan" reaching number twenty-one on Billboard 's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Pantera eased off a bit for The Great Southern Trendkill (1996), which contains three ballads ("10's," "Floods," and "Suicide Note, Pt. 1"), but the predictability of the heavier songs makes this far less essential than previous 1990s efforts. In July 1996, Anselmo, who sang, "I've done it all but tap the vein" on Far Beyond Driven, collapsed after a heroin overdose and nearly died. However, he quit the drug cold turkey, surviving the harrowing withdrawal that accompanies the experience. After devoting time to side projects, Pantera scored an unexpected airplay hit in 1999 with its cover of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" for the Detroit Rock City soundtrack.

Pantera returned to its full-blast attack for Reinventing the Steel (2000), which made number four on the Billboard 200. The album shows a band content to churn out its trademark sound for longtime fans, without worrying about staying up-to-the-minute on alternative metal trends. After Reinventing the Steel, Pantera went on hiatus for a few years as members again returned to side projects. But they all insisted Pantera was still a going concern.

Pantera's ability to bridge 1980s guitar-hero riffing and 1990s mosh-pit headbanging helped keep metal alive and relevant during its mid-1990s slump and influenced alternative metal youngbloods like Tool and Korn.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Cowboys from Hell (Atlantic, 1990); Vulgar Display of Power (East West, 1992); Far Beyond Driven (East West, 1994); Reinventing the Steel (East West, 2000). Soundtrack: Detroit Rock City (Polygram, 1999).

ramiro burr