Pantera

Pantera was a heavy metal, groove metal, and thrash metal band formed in Arlington, Texas.
==History==
===Formation===
The band was originally named Gemini then switched to Eternity before settling on to Pantera. The band formed in 1981 by lead guitarist Darrell Abbott (a.k.a. Diamond Darrell), drummer Vincent Abbott (a.k.a. Vinnie Paul), rhythm guitarist Terry Glaze, vocalist Donnie Hart, and bassist Tommy D. Bradford. Hart resigned in 1982 and Glaze took over as the vocalist. In addition, Glaze stopped playing the guitar, leaving Darrell the only guitarist. Later in 1982, Bradford also stepped down. Rex Brown (a.k.a. Rex Rocker) took over as the next bassist.
===First three albums===
Jerry Abbott, the producer of Metal Magic Records and father of both Abbott brothers, offered the band a contract to help produce the band's upcoming albums, and accepted on the spot. Pantera's first studio album, Metal Magic, was released on June 10, 1983. The album included ten tracks, but never spawned a single. On July 27, 1984, Pantera released their second studio album, Projects in the Jungle. The album contained ten tracks but still did not spawn a single. On August 16, 1985, Pantera released their third studio album, I Am the Night. The album contained ten tracks, but still, no single ever spawned. Only 25,000 copies of the third album were sold.
The first three albums did not garner much attention nor sell very well. As the three releases mostly consisted of groove metal and glam metal, Glaze felt that the genre wasn't giving him a proper approach. Glaze eventually had his limits and left the band in early 1986. Needing a new vocalist to continue on, Pantera recruited Matt L'Amour. L'Amour performed with the band at a couple of shows, but his philosophy was not capable of showing anything desirable. Around the same time, Pantera was limited to performing cover songs, which eventually led to L'Amour leaving. Pantera next recruited Rick Mythiasin, but the latter wasn't fully familiar with the southern style musical culture, and no deal came about. David Peacock, a member of a band called Forced Entry and longtime schoolmate of both Abbott brothers, was next in line for audition, but this too felt unsuitable. By the end of 1986, Pantera was revisited by former frontman Donny Hart, which would also be short lived.
===Power Metal===
In early 1987, Phil Anselmo was responding that Pantera needed a new vocalist. Pantera did a little rehearsals with Anselmo and felt inspired by his performance, hiring him to be their next vocalist. Pantera released their fourth studio album, Power Metal, on May 8, 1988. The album included ten tracks and was released by Metal Magic Records. The recent release spelled a change of a musical genre, especially for the band approaching a more aggressive approach in heavy metal. Still, there were no singles, and the album did not sell very well.
===Cowboys from Hell===
After the release of Power Metal, Megadeth made a call to Pantera, needing a guitarist. Darrell was slated to go, but would insist that his brother Vinnie should come along as well. Both Abbott brothers eventually turned the offer down after Megadeth settled in on drummer Nick Menza and guitarist Marty Friedman. Looking for their first big breakthrough, Pantera was in search of a new record label. After being turned down by 28 record labels, Pantera finally settled in with Atco Records. Around the same time, Brown ditched his professional alias Rex Rocker, just coming about with his real name.
Pantera entered the Pantego Sound Studio in Pantego, Texas to begin development for their next album. The band's fifth studio album, Cowboys from Hell, was released on July 24, 1990. The album contained twelve tracks. The title track, "Cemetery Gates", "Psycho Holiday", and "The Art of Shredding" became singles. The album turned out to be far more successful than the previous four albums, mainly due to the official approach in the heavy metal sound, which regarded complex guitar riffs and screaming vocals.
To promote their recent release, Pantera embarked on a global tour for the first time. In September 1991, Pantera performed at a concert in Moscow, Russia dubbed "Monsters in Moscow". About 500,000 individuals were in attendance, which eventually foreshadowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union three months later.
===Vulgar Display of Power===
After a lengthy world tour, Pantera returned to the Pantego Sound Studio to develop their next album. The band's sixth studio album, Vulgar Display of Power, was released on February 25, 1992. The album included eleven tracks. "Mouth for War", "Walk", "This Love", "Live in a Hole", and "Hollow" became singles. The proceeding singles received a decent amount of airplay, and the music videos received decent playtime on MTV. Going on another world tour, Pantera performed in Japan for the first time, and evenly headlined the "Monsters of Rock" festival alongside with fellow metal artists Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath in Italy. Around the same time, Darrell switched his professional alias to Dimebag Darrell.
===Far Beyond Driven===
After another world tour, Pantera returned to the United States and signed a record deal with East West Records. The band released their seventh studio album, Far Beyond Driven, on March 22, 1994. The album contained twelve tracks. Singles were "I'm Broken", "Becoming", "5 Minutes Alone", and a cover of "Planet Caravan", originally performed by Black Sabbath. Around the same time of the album's release, Anselmo was diagnosed with ruptured discs in his back, and was dealing with chronic pain from a degenerative disc disease. To help alleviate the pain, Anselmo began drinking heavily along with taking painkillers, muscle relaxants, and heroin. Even so on, the album's cover art proved to be controversial due to depicting a drill bit impaling an anus. The revised cover art showed a familiar skull impaled with a drill bit.
Going on another world tour, Pantera performed in countries of South America for the first time. A Monsters of Rock festival on July 4, 1994 turned into turmoil where both Abbott brothers were involved in an altercation with a music magazine company due to unflattering cartoon depictions of Vinnie. Later in the same month, Anselmo attacked a security guard after preventing fans from climbing on stage, which led to federal charges. Anselmo was released from jail on a $5,000 bond. In May 1995, Anselmo pled guilty to attempted assault, received a year of probation, and was ordered to undergo a hundred hours worth of community service.
===The Great Southern Treadkill===
In mid-1995, the Abbott brothers were noticing some unusual activity in Anselmo as he was behaving erratically and often distancing himself from the band. Still dealing with back problems, Anselmo attempted to alleviate it by consuming alcohol and painkillers, which affected the band's most recent performances. Seeking a second opinion, doctors recommended that Anselmo should undergo surgery, which would take a whole lot more time than expected to recover. Unwilling to undergo surgery, Anselmo used heroin as a painkiller. Anselmo would later form a side-project supergroup band called Down.
With tensions on the rise, Pantera was still willing to develop a new album before they were to forge on again. By October 1995, Pantera had officially begun development for their next album. Sessions took place at Chasin Jason Studios in Dalworthington Gardens, Texas and Nothing Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band's eighth studio album, The Great Southern Treadkill, was released on May 7, 1996. The album included eleven tracks. Singles were "Floods", "Drag the Waters", and "Suicide Note".
On July 13, 1996, during a homecoming gig at an undisclosed location in Texas, Anselmo overdosed on heroin, and was admitted to the hospital. He was given a shot of adrenaline after his heart stopped beating after nearly five minutes. Anselmo apologized to his bandmates and confessed that he would stop taking drugs.
A live album titled Official Live: 101 Proof was released on July 29, 1997. The live album included sixteen tracks, which featured two new studio recordings, "Where You Come From" and "I Can't Hide". Four months after the live album's release, Cowboys from Hell, Far Beyond Driven, and The Great Southern Treadkill were certified platinum. Later in 1997, Pantera performed at the Ozzfest for the first time. Around the same time, Anselmo ventured into more side projects, such as helping out with Necrophagia's album Holocausto de la Morte. The Abbott brothers evenly formed a country metal crossover project called Rebel Meets Rebel.
In 1999, Pantera composed a song titled "Puck Off", which was intended for the NHL team, the Dallas Stars. The proceeding track would be used for the team's 1999 Stanley Cup playoff run and was used as their goal song at the American Airlines Center within recent years. A Stanley Cup party took place at the residence of Vinnie Paul, where the cup was damaged as one of the players had attempted to toss it off the balcony into a swimming pool. The cup landed on the concrete linege near the pool and had to be taken in for repairs by NHL certified silversmiths.
===Reinventing the Steel===
Later in 1999, Pantera entered Chasin Jason Studios in Arlington, Texas to begin development for their next album. Reinventing the Steel was the band's ninth and final studio album released on March 21, 2000. It included ten tracks, where "Revolution is My Name" and "I'll Cast a Shadow" became singles. "Goddamn Electric" featured an outro solo by Slayer's guitarist Kerry King during a backstage take at the Ozzfest. "Revolution is My Name" was nominated for Best Metal Performance during the 2001 Grammys. Pantera also performed at the House of Shock event concert, but during the time, Anselmo suffered broken ribs during a fall, which prompted the band to cancel the rest of its tour.
In early 2001, Pantera resumed touring with fellow metal acts Morbid Angel, Skrape, Slayer, and Static-X as part of the Extreme Steel Tour. The band was also featured as guest musicians on the show SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode "Pre-Hibernation Week", performing the song "Death Rattle" from thrir most recent album. A planned tour in Europe was cut short due to incidents on September 11, 2001, which left the band stuck in Dublin, Ireland for six days as all flights were grounded at the time. The band's final performance was on August 28, 2001 in Yokohama, Japan. When the band returned to Texas in 2002, they planned to release another home video and studio album, but nothing happened.
===Disbandment===
Anselmo took a year off following the 9/11 incident to help recover and regain his focus. He also engaged in side projects, including activity with the supergroup Down. The Abbott brothers were growing concerned overtime as Anselmo held out of activity with Pantera for so long. A compilation album titled The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! was released on September 23, 2003, containing 16 tracks from the past studio album releases. The 16th and final track was a cover of "Hole in the Sky", a song originally performed by Black Sabbath. Two months after the compilation was released, Pantera officially disbanded. The Abbott brothers announced this move when they felt that Anselmo was away for so long and that he seemingly "abandoned" Pantera.
===Posthumous activities===
Months after Pantera disbanded, both Abbott brothers formed a new band called Damageplan with Patrick Lachman at vocals and Bob Zilla at bass. The band released just one album titled New Found Power on February 10, 2004. Nearly a year into the formation of Damageplan, the band was performing at a nightclub known as the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, 2004. During the show, disaster struck, where a 25-year old man named Nathan Gale opened fire with a Beretta 92FS 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Dimebag Darrell was one of those who were shot in action during the performance and later died at the age of 38. It was later revealed that Gale, the one responsible for the shootings, served in the Marine Corps and was dealing with paranoid schizophrenia, a condition that was first found in him since his discharge from the Marines. James Niggemeyer, who served with the Columbus Police at the time, used a 12-gauge Remington Model 870 shotgun, and shot Gale once in the head, killing him almost instantly.
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