December 8th marks the anniversary of the death of Dimebag Darrell Lance Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan. Today is the 20th anniversary of his murder of while on stage at the former Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, Ohio. That venue has now been demolished. As we do every year on this date, we prefer to cherish Darrell’s memory and honor how he lived. Twenty-years on, no one can deny his impact as a player, songwriter, and major personality in metal. The five modern classic albums he made with Pantera starting with 1990s Cowboys From Hell, 1992s Vulgar Display of Power, 1994’s Far Beyond Driven, 1997s The Great Southern Trendkill, and 2000’s Reinventing the Steel will last forever as some of the heaviest, inventive, and soulful metal music ever made. Darrell also had three of the top 100 guitar solos of all-time as ranked by Guitar World – “Walk,” “Cemetary Gates,” and “Floods.” While controversial, the current world tour from the reformed version of Pantera is a tribute to Darrell and his late brother Vinnie Paul, despite some resistance from fans. The current version of Pantera, featuring Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, along with Zakk Wylde (Ozzy, Black Label Society), and Charlie Benante (Anthrax, S.O.D., G.B.I.) has more dates lined up for 2025 on their own as a headliner and opening for Metallica. So Getcha pull! Jam out to some classic Dimebag and Pantera tracks and raise a glass or smoke (or both) to the legend of legends on guitar!
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Tag Archives: The Great Southern Trendkill
GIVEAWAY: Win Tickets to Phil Anselmo and the Illegals “A Vulgar Display of Pantera” Livestream
Philip H. Anselmo And The Illegals, presented in association with Danny Wimmer Presents, will return to the stage this weekend for a very special livestream event featuring the music of Phil’s former band, metal legends Pantera. Phil and his band last performed Pantera classics on their 2019/2020 world tour, which included opening for Slayer’s final tour ever. Dubbed A Vulgar Display Of Pantera, the multi-camera shot, fully live performance will take place on Friday, April 9th, and find the band celebrating the legacy of Pantera with a set featuring select cuts from the band’s five classic albums: Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display Of Power, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill, and Reinventing The Steel! The livestream will also include an opening set by Australian grindcore unit/Housecore recording artist King Parrot. You can win a ticket to watch this weekend for FREE from Ghost Cult! Enter at our Instagram, but act now as the contest ends Thursday, April 8th and the show is Friday!
Philip H. Anselmo And The Illegals Present Exclusive Pantera Livestream
Philip H. Anselmo And The Illegals, presented in association with Danny Wimmer Presents, will return to the stage next month for a very special livestream event featuring the music of Phil’s former band, 1990s metal legends Pantera. Phil and his band last performed Pantera classics on their 2019/2020 world tour, which included opening for Slayer’s final tour ever. Dubbed A Vulgar Display Of Pantera, the multi-camera shot, fully live performance will take place on Friday, April 9th, and find the band celebrating the legacy of Pantera with a set featuring select cuts from the band’s five classic albums: Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display Of Power, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill, and Reinventing The Steel! The livestream will also include an opening set by Australian grindcore unit/Housecore recording artist King Parrot. Watch the trailer now!
CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Pantera’s “Reinventing The Steel” Turns 20
What happens when a band hits maturity? It’s bound to happen to all the bands you love. It’s definitely hard for some fans to accept when their favorite band, was once new and youthful have become the elder statesmen of the scene. Some bands also struggle to come to terms with aging and changing. Others try and recapture their earlier sounds, while others strive to evolve. This is what happened to Pantera twenty years ago when they created their album Reinventing The Steel (East/West). Continue reading
Pantera Crosses The One Billion Streaming Mark
Pantera has shared a post to social media thanking fans for the band reaching 1 Billion streams across platforms such as (in alphabetical order) Amazon, Apple, Deezer, Google, and Spotify. The band joins notable recent bands such as Metallica, Guns N Roses, and Nirvana with over one billion streams. Pantera was founded in 1981 and released nine studio albums total and a live album (not counting compilations and boxed sets), coming to prominence with their fifth and major-label debut, Cowboys From Hell. The band was disbanded by the late brothers, Darrell Lance “Dimebag” Abbott and Vinnie Paul Abbott in 2003. Getcha pull and celebrate!Continue reading
Watch Bad Wolves Cover Pantera’s “Sandblasted Skin” As A Tribute To Vinnie Paul
The tributes are still pouring to beloved drumming icon Vinnie Paul Abbott of Pantera and HELLYEAH. Last night chart-topping metal supergroup Bad Wolves broke out a cover of ‘Sandblasted Skin’ off of Pantera’s classic The Great Southern Trendkill (EastWest) album. Check it out!Continue reading
The Great Southern Trendkill 20th Anniversary Listening Party Is Happening At Duff’s Brooklyn
Pantera will be releasing The Great Southern Trendkill: 20th Anniversary Edition on October 21st via Rhino, and the official listening party will be happening Friday night at Duff’s Brooklyn. Continue reading
Audio: Pantera Releases Early Drag The Waters Mix From The Great Southern Trendkill Reissue
Pantera will be releasing The Great Southern Trendkill: 20th Anniversary Edition on October 21st via Rhino, and we have another early mix of a classic track for your ears today. Continue reading
Audio: Pantera Releases Early Floods Mix From The Great Southern Trendkill Reissue
Pantera will be releasing The Great Southern Trendkill: 20th Anniversary Edition on October 21st via Rhino, and it’s a must have for any fan of the heavy metal legends. Continue reading
King Parrot – Dead Set
King Parrot do not fuck around. A quick drum fill, a few stabbed guitar chords of an intro and we are into the full-on no fucks given, no quarter asked nor given, modern crossover thrash violence of minute and a half like opening track ‘Anthem of the Advanced Sinner’, a song with a mid-section chug that recalls the classic head-snap of ‘Raining Blood’.
Mention thrash and people think of a creatively limited genre, mention crossover and people think of retro, mention a combination of the two and we tend to think we’ve heard it before. King Parrot couldn’t give a shit what you think you’ve heard before; born with more than enough middle fingers and ‘tood in fucking truckloads, they parade and stamp jagged anthems like broken glass into your ugly face. This is no quickstep of obvious moves, ‘Need No Saviour’ could be Exodus covering Morbid Angel, before lurching into The Great Southern Trendkill (EastWest) silt and swamp stomp, while ‘Reject’ swills punk around their mouth, before spraying out venom.
Thrash and hardcore are, to this King, to coin a phrase, just the beginning.
Matthew Young spits and tantrums all over the album, like a wound-up “Blitz” Ellsworth having been given a cheeky slap while three sheets to the wind and denied the chance to exact revenge, stomping around destroying the bar while mosh anthem after fight song barrel from the speakers.
Don’t think, though, this is an uneducated rageathon. Dead Set (Housecore) is focused and scripted, Ari White and Andrew Livingstone-Squires ripping choice cuts of classic Death Metal Massacre and Schuldiner riffs and thrashing them up, with Young switching up his yelp with a kidney-punch growl in the grinding menace of ‘Home Is Where The Gutter Is’, while ‘Sick In The Head’ is Bay Area at its most feral meets Sick Of It All.
Ultimately success in this type of arena still relies on songwriting, riffs people want to hear again and an X-Factor of energy and conviction, all of which the Parrot deliver in spades. There is defined Hannemann/King influence in the spiky riffing, but King Parrot bring their own grime to leave their own indelible mark over one of the most refreshing, visceral, unhinged-yet-concentrated and memorable hits from the underground and below this year.
8.5/10
STEVE TOVEY