Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul (drums) and Dimebag Darrell (guitar) in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as the new vocalist. Pantera has sold around 20 million albums. Starting as a glam metal band, Pantera released four albums during the 1980s. For their fifth album,
Cowboys from Hell, released in 1990, Pantera introduced a heavier groove and thrash metal sound. Their sixth album
Vulgar Display of Power, released in 1992, revealed a heavier sound than
Cowboys from Hell and their 1994 release of
Far Beyond Driven debuted at No.1 in the Billboard 200.
Tensions began to surface amongst the band members when Phil Anselmo became addicted to heroin in 1995. This resulted in the recording sessions for
The Great Southern Trendkill to be held separately. The ongoing tensions lasted for another seven years, in which only one studio album,
Reinventing the Steel was released. The Abbott brothers disbanded Pantera in 2003 and subsequently formed Damageplan. Any hopes of a reunion were lost on December 8, 2004, when Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed onstage by a mentally unstable fan during a Damageplan performance.
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