Before they were the Cowboys from Hell, Pantera were rowdy glam rockers from Arlington, Texas. They released three albums with original vocalist Terry Glaze before bringing in frontman Phil Anselmo on Power Metal and moving towards the aggro groove metal sound that became their forte. Once they were signed to Atco in 1989 for their fifth album, which marked a noticeable shift into much heavier sounds, they distanced themselves from their spandex and hairspray past. Good luck finding the physical product at a cheap price.
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To be fair, it wasn’t all that bad. In fact, the first four Pantera albums—Metal Magic (1983), Projects In The Jungle (1984), I Am The Night (1985), and Power Metal (1988)—are not the aural abominations you might be led to believe. Sure, they reveled mainly in lyrical cheese—fast times, sexy women, macho men, and rock, baby!—but it was clear from the outset that guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott could already shred his ass off, and that six-string energy shines throughout these early offerings. His brother Vinnie Paul Abbott and bassist Rex Brown formed a tight rhythm section, while Glaze was a solid if rambunctious screamer.
Yes, they donned the spandex and Dimebag really poofed out his hair. Yes, there were song titles like “Heavy Metal Rules!” “Come-On Eyes,” and “P*S*T*88” (it’ll come to you). Yes, some of the album covers looked like high school art projects. And, oh yes, you got lyrics like this “gem” from “Hot ‘N Heavy”:
Take a look at my ice cream cone, baby
Go ahead take a lick
Can’t wait to take you home
Beat you with my stick, look out
Lennon and McCartney, it ain’t.
Maybe it wasn’t a vulgar display of power—their debut is shaky—but this wasn’t all lightweight, peroxide glam territory either. A lot of the tracks were harder than that. They had melodic anthems like “Widowmaker,” “Like Fire,” and “Hard Ride.” Listen to the more frenetic cuts like “Out for Blood” (from Projects in The Jungle), “Power Metal” and “Death Trap” (from Power Metal), and the title track to I Am The Night, and there is foreshadowing of the sonic savagery that Pantera would propagate in the ’90s. Plus, they’d toss in an occasional sensitive ballad like “Forever Tonight” and “Takin’ My Life” that you would never hear again done that way past the ’80s. If you haven’t heard this stuff, it’s both surreal and kind of makes sense.
The guys also played around with their stage names on these four albums. Terry Glaze was now Terrence Lee (shedding his last name); Vinnie Paul was, well, Vinnie Paul; Darrell Abbott turned into Diamond Darrell, and Rex Brown became Rex Rocker. (Oh, the ‘80s, we miss you.) Phil Anselmo always used his name, and while his signature bellow did not really emerge until Cowboys from Hell in 1990, he brought his Rob Halford-like shrieks into the mix on Power Metal. “We’ll Meet Again” even features some ominous intonations from the vocalist that would not be out of place on future releases.
The first album with Anselmo, Power Metal, introduced more of the guitar histrionics that Abbott brought to the band’s ’90s work, although he tore it up all along the way. Their fourth album incorporated more speed metal into their glam-based sound. Those two metal scenes were diametrically opposed in the ’80s, so it was an interesting combo to pull off at the time.
It’s easy to see why Pantera might want to bury their old stuff given what’s just been written about. Taken on their terms, a number of these tracks are enjoyable and occasionally would surprise you—“Daughters Of The Queen” was a moody nocturnal rocker, while “We’ll Meet Again” found Brown playing tubular bells in the background for sonic support. Further, many modern day Pantera fans really like the Power Metal album, and they don’t have a problem with this period of the band at all. They grew more tight and professional with each album.
Why, do you wonder, were they able to release four albums independently without massive traction, sign to a major, then move on like nothing had happened before? Fun fact: All of the first six Pantera albums were recorded at Pantego Sound, the studio owned by Abbott brothers’ father, Jerry. He produced their first six albums, and they self-released the first four. These ultimately served as an ’80s rehearsal for their ’90s takeover, and as they had released them they could rescind them.
The best part about discovering early Pantera is it’s not like you can run out and buy a CD so easily. While you’re not going to hear them on Spotify, they’re fully available on YouTube. Check out the comments too: Select fans rank Power Metal among their favorite Pantera albums—it’s much closer to their signature sound than the first three—and many would like to see the first four albums reissued. Hell, why not.
In summation, early Pantera, despite unintentional humor, has its moments. It was clear the band had the ability to go somewhere. Another interesting lesson/reminder here is that in the modern era many bands only get a couple of releases to break big, and if they don’t succeed at the highest levels they get booted off of the majors. Pantera may have taken four albums to find their path, but so did many other famous artists. They just did it more on their own terms. So go ahead check out some early Pantera and appreciate it for what it is. You might dig it.
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