PANTERA | COWBOYS FROM HELL
The fifth studio album from American heaven metal band Pantera is considered one of the first groove metal albums.
Produced by Terry Date (Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Incubus), the band was turned down “28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth.” Eventually, the sonic power of Pantera’s musicianship made it clear most corporate labels can’t see the potential through the grime. This was the first Panter album to capture the sound most associated with the band today. Clear influences include Metallica and Judas Priest. Guitarist dime bag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul strived to create a sound that cut like a knife powered by the force a chainsaw. But its vocalist Phil Anselmo’s hardcore mentality that brings the thrash perspective to the forefront.
The band spent six months writing Cowboys From Hell, giving birth to tracks like Shattered and Heresy which were heavily rooted in thrash and evenly coated in a lacquer of metal. The band was interested in implementing a Southern vibe, later dubbed ‘power groove’ to give some dimension to the general heaviness and distinguish them from their peers.
Thrash meets groove became the template for the band, taking cues from other Southern acts like ZZ Top. And as their career carried forward, they got even heavier and tighter. Anselmo’s wailing and high pitched clamouring is firmly footed in the late 80’s metal scene but would give way to thicker more concentrated grind on future album. The albums biggest single is “Cemetery Gates” which opens as a typical E minor hair metal ballad but streaks into a full blown melodramatic crescendo of wankness. The pinch harmonic dimebag hits on the songs scale is legendary. While Anselmo wasn’t feeling the track and still has issues with its “weakness” it allowed the band a huge mainstream audience on radio while showcasing a side of the singer he would never return to. The song ends in a pristine guitar shrieking like angels weeping metal tears. The band would later really step into its sound with Far Beyond Driven and Great Southern Trendkill, but it was Cowboys From Hell that established the group as a Gold selling act to fuck with.
Dimebag created a drink called Black Tooth Grin. The cocktail, which features two shots of Seagrams 7, two shots of Crown Royal and a dash of Coke, became Pantera’s official drink. Here is a new riff on Darrell’s original cocktail.
1.5 oz American Whiskey
1 oz Crown Royal
.5 oz Ameretto
3 dashes black walnut bitters
2 Splashes of Coke