Today marks the ninth anniversary of the murder of Dimebag Darrell at the hands of a maniac, while on stage in Columbus, Ohio at the Alrosa Villa . It still feels unreal and unfair after all these years. As we will do every year, we pay tribute to this fallen hero of metal. Below is an edited excerpt from my old, personal blog that I wrote on the subject of Dimebag’s life, death, and impact on the metal community. Since I have never been able to express my feelings on these matter any better, this what I have to share.
“Like many metal fans of the 1990’s I was and still am a huge Pantera fan. From the very first time I saw the ‘Psycho Holiday’ video on Headbangers Ball, I knew these guys were the shit! (Editor’s Note: Pantera’s riffs ended up being incorporated into the theme song of the show). They was no denying their musical talents which became refined and improved over their career. But what really made Pantera great was their heart and personality. Their awesome spirit, take no prisoners attitude and general super fun quotient set them apart from the serious, scowling metal dudes in every other band. Later in the decade when metal was struggling a bit as a genre the band continued to be uncompromisingly heavy and unashamedly true to themselves. Their albums are all time greats, their live shows were legendary and their three home videos were a handbook on how to hang out, have a good time and party until the break of dawn. “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was a the center of this madness, this chaos, this musical force of nature of a band. Dime has four solos in Guitar World’s top 100 solos of all time list, and countless other great ones also. He wasn’t just a dynamite lead guitarist and a great riffer and songwriter, he had a lovely soul and a love of life that was indeed “larger than life”. I think he also had a sensitivity he only showed glimpses of, but I think it came through in his humility and kindness. Things that don’t often get associated with metal, let alone legit guitar gods.
Just a week earlier I had seen Darrell and his new band, Damageplan at Irving Plaza in New York with Shadows Fall and The Haunted opening. Damageplan played a fine show with Pantera covers like “Becoming” and “Walk” sprinkled in. After the show I was near both Dime and his brother Vinny Paul by the bar. Dime was immediately mobbed and seemed like he was trying to skate out of the venue. I just figured to myself that I’d meet him at the next show. Vinnie gave me a sweaty hug and a few minutes of his time to talk about metal, drumming etc.
One week later, when Darrell was gunned down 30 seconds into the start of a concert, just after midnight on Dec. 8 2004, it sent a shock wave 
throughout the music world. A lot of people were calling it ‘the 9/11 for Metal’. Initially news was sketchy, with many major news outlets not having the full story until the next morning. Early reports just said “former Pantera member dead in Ohio” and many people today will admit they assumed Philip Anselmo‘s (former) drug problems caught up with him. But it was Dimebag that was murdered, along with three others by a homicidal, obsessive fan, who himself was gun downed at the scene by a brave policeman. I didn’t find out this terrible news until I got to work the next morning like many, and I started to get a barrage of calls at my desk confirming the worst. I broke down and cried some, then called some people myself to share the news/grief. I couldn’t concentrate at work and went through the motions the rest of the day and went home to listened to my records and just felt numb all over. This was like the death of a family member to me. PANTERA was not just a favorite band of mine, but they helped inform my own music that my bands played. At the very first show of my first gigging band, we played ‘Cemetery Gates’ and ‘Five Minutes Alone’. We often molded our music after the ‘Cowboys From Hell’ eventually covering ‘Walk’ (which I am now sick of), ‘Domination’, ‘I’m Broken’ and my personal favorite, .’A New Level’. I lived my life by their words, saw them many times in concert, met friends and lovers because of them, and generally followed their every move for over a decade. Today many of the current crop of metal bands have the influence of Pantera in their veins to varying degrees of success. Dime’s legacy lives on and there will never be another lead player or a person quite like him.”
Visit the Dimebag Darrell tribute page on Facebook
Keith (Keefy) Chachkes