Dime and Phil are generally the ones who get the press, but just a shout out to Vinnie Paul. What an incredible drummer. He didn’t have to get super technical, but just put impeccable grooves to hold those songs together and accentuate all the right parts. RIP Abbot brothers. I’m from Dallas and Pantera is in my blood. Lucky enough to see them live a few times, including with Sepultura. Great video guys!
Vinnie had a unique, brilliant style of playing. Like the intro to 13 steps to nowhere always gets me moving... Also a shoutout to Rex, def a underrated bassist!
That Sepultura/Pantera Dallas Smirnoff show was awesome, wasn't Slayer there or was that another show? I almost got crushed to death during Slayer up front/pit. I could swear it was all 3 at the same gig, but then there was another with Bkack Sabbath too right? Been so long I get em all mixed up, I lost the ticket stubs too...Did you go to the Vulgar show at the Bronco Bowl? That was my first Pantera.
Vinnie knew where to put fills and how to make unique sounding fills that fit the song perfectly. Vinnie influenced most metal and rock drummers of today. Wish I wasn't such a degenerate when I was younger, and I should've seen them live 😂😂
Reinventing the steel was my favorite album from pantera it’s raw and it’s funky and it has some of the best digitech whammy work besides suicide note prt 2, it has insane riffs it feels like it was a grown dark version of cowboys from hell marking the end of what was started long ago, Yesterday don’t mean sh*t, Hellbound, Uplift, has some of the Hardest Heaviest instrumentals that keeps musical consistency, I do not believe Pantera has made a bad album besides anything with Terry Glaze
RTS is awesome. It's like Vulgar 2.0 to me. Such a jammable album. It Makes Them Disappear is crazy underrated. I'll Cast a Shadow is really Black Sabbathy. Revolution is My Name is so good and catchy. It just seems like it encompasses everything about Pantera, right down to the album cover lmao.
1-Cowboys from Hell 2-Vulgar Display of Power 3-Far Beyond Driven 4-Great Southern Trendkill 5-Reinventing the Steel 6-Power Metal 7-Projects of the Jungle 8-I Am the Night 9-Metal Magic
My ranking: 1. Vulgar Display of Power 2. The Great Southern Trendkill 3. Far Beyond Driven 4. Cowboys from Hell 5. Reinventing the Steel 6. Power Metal 7. I Am the Night 8. Projects in the Jungle 9. Metal Magic Also, R.I.P. Dimebag! Sucks that we lost him after Reinventing the Steel! Also, you guys should have the following bands on the next batch of rankings: Immolation GWAR Candlemass Megadeth
Trendkill is my favourite album of all time. 13 steps to nowhere is pretty mediocre for being Pantera but the rest of the songs are just flawless. I love the moody atmosphere, intensity and the crunchy guitar tone.
Necrotic Nick- I still really like that song. That drum beat is killer and Phil's lyrics are pretty interesting on that one. I do love the moodier, darker vibe on the album though and that guitar tone is massive.
I agree... I love them all. That album has all the elements. I also believe Trendkill actually has the best production sound out of all of their albums.. In the way of the production sounding more natural and live like. I love Vulgar, but at times it can be a bit too polished sounding.
There are NO bad Pantera songs from Cowboys on. I'm not saying every song is my favorite but name another band that had 5 albums with ZERO bad tracks. That is an achievement for sure. Also, 13 steps is a super sick song. That drum beat man...
No disrespect but I'm telling ya right now they were NOT falling apart while writing RTS nor did they record separately (that was Trendkill). Love it or hate it, the whole band loved that album and to this day it's still Philip's favorite. Had to rant. Other than that I look forward to the show.
I love Reinventing! It's basically a metal love letter to everything I love about Pantera. Cheers! What did you think of the Terry Date mix they released?
1. Cowboys From Hell 2. The Great Southern Trendkill 3. Vulgar Display of Power 4. Projects In the Jungle 5. Power Metal 6. I Am the Night 7. Far Beyond Driven 8. Reinventing the Steel 9. Metal Magic
This was so much fun. As much as I love the stories and your takes on music, your camaraderie is what keeps me coming back. I wish I still had such a tight-knit group of brothers... but life happens. I’m a Thralls fan forever. Best wishes and hugs to you all. \m/
So glad to see the love for Trendkill. I’ve always felt like FBD or Vulgar might be better but Trendkill was always my personal favorite. Fuck with the channel you guys have turned me on to new bands and have made me realize bands I love have something new out lol
I cannot wait for this! I just went through the entire discography this weekend in preparation for this. I give massive credit to Pantera for exposing me to more extreme metal and helping me get into more guttural vocals. I almost feel bad ranking the last five of their records because they are all great records in my opinion. Thank you for doing this ranking! Keep rockin' everyone at Thralls! \m/ \m/ P.S. Here is my ranking. I struggled with #3 and #4. However, I placed my #3 where it is because my #4 has one song on there that I do not care for. We all know which song it is I am sure. 1. Cowboys from Hell 2. Vulgar Display of Power 3. The Great Southern Trendkill 4. Far Beyond Driven 5. Reinventing the Steel 6. Power Metal 7. Projects in the Jungle 8. I Am the Night 9. Metal Magic
My ranking is almost identical: 1. Cowboys From Hell 2. Vulgar Display of Power 3. The Great Southern Trendkill 4. Far Beyond Driven 5. Reinventing The Steel 6. Power Metal 7. I Am The Night 8. Projects In The Jungle 9. Metal Magic
Far Beyond Reinventing the Vulgar Rankkill. From Hell. Legit pumped for this! This band means so much to me. It's like Phil sings in Goddamn Electric - the part of me that's always sixteen. That obnoxious, drunk, loud me that no suit and tie, professional or family life can trully erase. Choosing between Vulgar, Driven and Trendkill is almost impossible for me and could change any day. With a fair share of days Reinventing sneaks in there too. Let's see how you get out of it. But today it's: 1. Trendkill 2. Vulgar 3. Driven 4. Reinventing 5. Cowboys 6. Power Metal 7. Nothing else happened, we were all on vacation
My first exposure to Pantera was through a little golden age meme on YTMND simply called the “Tragedy” fad. The original featured a clip from Sesame Street of Grover getting his head slammed in a door and the video then zooming in with the text “Grover. 1969-2007.” The outro to Floods was playing in the background and I didn’t realize until many years later.
Pantera was the soundtrack of my teens and early 20s. I still revisit them from time to time but I’ve been kinda burnt out on their albums although I’ve really gotten back into Cowboys from Hell and Power Metal. Here are my rankings: The Great Southern Trendkill Cowboys From Hell Reinventing the Steel Power Metal Far Beyond Driven Vulgar Display of Power Projects in the Jungle I Am the Night Metal Magic
Great rankings, been waiting for this one! Here's my ranking : 1 - Cowboys From Hell 2 - Vulgar Display Of Power 3 - The Great Southern Trendkill 4 - Far Beyond Driven 5 - Power Metal 6 - Reinventing The Steel 7 - I Am The Night 8 - Projects In The Jungle 9 - Metal Magic
Great ranking! Hard to rank such a discography that no matter what is almost perfect. Mind you those first 3 I barely acknowledge 😂. Im so excited for the Celebration of the band tour. Also I was wondering about Rin. Miss the dude and glad to hear he is well.
The day is finally upon us! Load a bowl, pour some black tooth grins, get yer pull, and let's go! RIP Darrell & Vinnie, you live on thru the music eternally!!!! 🤘❤🔥🤘
This will be interesting. These guys get such hate in some metal discussions. Honestly it was Phil's vocals that eventually broke down the door to me listening to more extreme metals. Anyways, here's my ranking 7-9, the first 3 Indy ones. My only takeaway from these is Dime can play his ass off. 6. Power Metal. Phil brought that something extra, of course they still had to give up on VH meets JP. 5. Reinventing the Steel. Some good tunes on here. Yesterday Don't Mean Shit and Revolution is my Name stick to me the most. 4. Cowboys From Hell. Sacrilege to many of the Pantera faithful. But I like what they turned into, more than the remnants of what they were hanging onto here. Still some killer tunes. Domination my fav here. 3. Far Beyond Driven. Stylistically perfecting what they did on Vulgar. But still, Vulgar had more upper echelon tunes. 2. Vulgar Display. My pal in college played me This Love, and I was like WTF is that. I hadn't ventured too far from the Big4 yet. But when I grabbed the CD and heard Mouth For War and Fuckin Hostile....fugedaboudit!! 1. Trendkill. Dark, ugly. Phil was in a bad place. At the time I wasn't in the best place. And that just cemented this one into my soul.
1. Vulgar Display of Power 2. The Great Southern Trendkill 3. Cowboys From Hell 4. Far Beyond Driven 5. Reinventing the Steel 6. Power Metal 7. Projects In the Jungle 8. I Am the Night 9. Metal Magic Pantera is my favorite band of all time, Vulgar is my favorite album by anyone. Great video gents🤘
Nice vid guys personally my ranking would be: 1. Trendkill 2. Vulgar 3. FBD 4. Reinventing the steel 5. Cowboys You guys should do a vid on electric wizard
In the 90s if you disrespected pantera you was kicked out of the metalhead group. Now all the old metalheads hate them smh. Blasphemy laws should be in place for pantera.
Awesome review Thralls of Metal! Pantera definitely invented the groove metal and I feel resurged thrash metal at the right time when it took a setback. There are many bands who may not have come out of the woodwork if it wasn't for Pantera. R.I.P. Dime and Vinnie !
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I think Exhorder might have invented groove metal but I think Pantera really popularized it but that's always a debatable subject. Either way, Pantera dominated in a time were metal's popularity was kinda waning and they did it being heavy as hell. Thanks for all the killer music Vinnie & Dime!
Great Southern Trendkill was my first and favorite Pantera record, but admittedly, it's one that I don't listen to often. I've lost a lot of friends and family to heroin addiction, so the album is a VERY raw representation of how that feels from an outside and inside perspective.
"5 minutes alone" - that groove and rthymn section introduced me to Pantera, then the iconic "I'm Broken" riff, me and my buddy seen Superjoint Ritual, he got on stage and Phil drapped a flag around his back, awesome experience, and we had tickets to the Damageplan show in Columbus in our ticketmaster queue but ended up not purchasing the tickets, recently saw the new line up open for Metallica, they did kick tail, so yeh I appreciate this video
Great list from you guys. Always love your ranking videos. For me it is: 9. Metal Magic 2/5 (the production not really great, especially Terry's voice. But it has some cool songs) 8. I Am The Night 3/5 (Better production, has some really good songs, but some meh songs) 7. Projects In The Jungle 3/5 (I like this album start to finish just a tiny bit better than I Am The Night) 6. Power Metal 3.5/5 (This album is really good, but there are better things to come) 5. Reinventing The Steel 4/5 (Very good album start to finish, but for me even the best tracks can't compare with the other albums) 4. Far Beyond Driven 4.5/5 (I judge albums by all the tracks on it and while it has some of their best it also has some of their worst from the 1990 - 2000 era namely Good Friends... and I also didn't need the Planet Caravan cover. But still a great album) 3. The Great Southern Trendkill 4.5/5 (This album flows for me better than FBD. Although the best tracks on FBD are better, but this album is more constant to me. And of course it also has some really great tracks too) 2. Cowboys From Hell 5/5 (What are the best tracks on this album? Everyone! I also like it for the fact that his vocals are more Rob Halford-ish on here) 1. Vulgar Display Of Power 5/5 (This album is filled with Classics. I like every track on here more than Walk which is the big single. And I still love Walk too. So, I think this says a lot about what I'm thinking of this album.)
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! This one was tough to do because everything from Cowboys to Trendkill could have been my number 1 honestly. I love all of those albums to death so this was a rough but really fun ranking.
Fully agreed. Walk is a fine song, but I rarely listen to it in favor of the other songs on the album. Vulgar has a much more “punk” feel to it, even with the subject matter. Rise and Mouth for War are pure punk rock energy. Even Everyday People has some punkness to it.
Miller- I got family that lives in Arecibo man, glad to hear y'all are OK! I LOVE it down there can't wait to go back to my cousins place. Didn't care for San Jaun like at all but Rincon was a cool spot for sure
Pantera was my whole introduction to extreme meta especially during highschool like most everyone says they were my favorite band at the time my ranking is 1 far beyond driven 2 the great southern trendkill 3 cowboy s from hell 4 vulgar display of power 5 reinventing the steel 6 power metal 7 projects in the jungle 8 I am the night 9 metal magic
Necrotic Nick- Pretty much the same here along with Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Megadeth and a few others but Pantera really latched on to my already shitty teenage attitude and just empowered it lol. Our rankings our pretty much the same minus one thing. Nice list, bro!
I have been waiting for this ranking. Pantera is my favorite band. Here is my ranking 1. The Great Southern Trendkill 2. Far Beyond Driven 3. Reinventing The Steel 4. Vulgar Display of Power 5. Cowboys From Hell 6. Power Metal
Great video as always, boys!!! Here are my PanterA rankings: 9. Metal Magic 8. Projects in the Jungle 7. I am the Night 6. Power Metal 5. Cowboys From Hell 4. Reinventing the Steel 3. The Great Southern Trendkill 2. Vulgar Display of Power 1. Far Beyond Driven PS.- Best wishes to Rin!! Come back soon brother!!
9. Metal Magic 8. Projects in the Jungle 7. I am the Night 6. Power Metal 5. Reinventing the Steel 4. Cowboys from Hell 3. Vulgar Display of Power 2. Far Beyond Driven 1. The Great Southern Trendkill
I knew about Pantera in the 80's but never really sought them out. In 1990 I was at an Exodus/Suicidal Tendencies show talking to this dude next to me who said he was there to see Pantera, which I thought was weird because Exodus and ST were at the height of their powers. It gets announced that Pantera didn't make it and we're getting Wehrmacht instead (who killed it) and the dude just walks out of the venue. My mind was pretty blown because it ended up being a quasi-legendary show with riot police eventually needing to be called in! About a year and a half later I stumble upon Vulgar Display and bought it on sight based on the cover and my memory from the Exodus gig. I've been a fan ever since. Trendkill is my favorite, like Miller. I had a hard time hearing Miller in this video. He did most of the talking, but only seemed about half as loud as the other guys.
Back at this video after the news broke about jerry abbott passing away. Sad to think all the immediate abbott family is gone. Rest easy dime, vinnie & jerry. Cant believe it'll be 20 years here in December. Remember, what would dime do?
Great critique. I absolutely love Pantera post the glam 'era, yet I also love the glam 'era material (I'm 53 probably an age thing) I recently aquired a pristine copy of I Am The Night- Original press on Metal Magic Records 1985 (including all inserts) at CD Trader in Tarzana, Ca. for $300. R.I.P Dime & Vinnie Tony F. Corpse (Post Mortem Superstar)
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Dude! That's a solid find. Honestly I'd probably get Power Metal and I am the Night on CD if they ever did prints of them. I know those OG vinyl prints can go for insane money though.
Giving it some more thought, if live albums counted, 101 Proof Live would be an easy #1 for me. One of the best live albums ever and it captured the band perfectly and the songs sounded even better live than on the albums.
I been a fan of you guys for a little while now. You guys are so amazing! I love watching your videos and I always feel a part of them when I listen to your opinions on these awesome albums. You guys should totally do more ranking the albums. Decapitated or some other killer bands would be sweet. \m/ rock on all of you.
Yeah which ever one is the biggest fan seems to take the helm on these rankings. I think they said Jammin Jon will be taking the floor for the Mastodon ranking that one will be great.
Pantera was one of the first metal bands I got into thanks to my oldest brother Roo (R.I.P.). At least is rocking out to the Abbott brothers in Heaven. If this Pantera tribute tour comes to Cincinnati or Columbus, I'm going. My rough ranking: 1. Cowboys from Hell 2. Vulgar Display of Power 3. Far Beyond Driven 4. Great Southern Treadkill 5. Power Metal 6. Reinventing the Steel 7. I Am the Night 8. Projects in the Jungle 9. Metal Magic
Necrotic Nick- They were one of the best gateway bands in metal for me and a lot of it holds up well. Your brother clearly had great taste, man. It's good to see Power Metal get a bit of love on your list too.
Always thought I was weird for liking southern trendkill the best, so im glad other people agree, what miller said about the guitar tone makes a lot of sense, it stands out to me above all their other guitar sounds.
Do you find that thee bass is a little low on that album? I really liked the way Rex's bass sounded in the first 3 albums (Cowboys - Far Beyond). I love Southern Trendkill but i felt like the low end was the one thing slightly lacking in it. I love the song writing and the intensity
@@mrmanju6989 For sure, less bass presence and like heft, to me its mixed more like an early '80s record, its pretty good just a lot flatter than their previous records.
I am lil older than the thralls team... Pantera started to get attention with "Cemetary Gates", the first records launched can be easily ignored. Phil was always the core of their success, just check the Damage Plan record. Phil had many personal problems that blew up with Pantera, but without him, there wasn't really much they could do. "Power metal" isn't the real Anselmo that starts to feel more at ease with "Cowboys from hell" ... too bad it didn't last long :P
Yeah I want to like damageplan. Great name, great riffs, but the hokiest vocals ever. Phil’s other bands are great though. Down is such a killer project
I did not even know of any albums before Cowboys From Hell! That's where the discography starts on Spotify! I wonder if it's a licensing thing or if they just wanted to separate the old from the new?
Thralls ranking one of my favourite bands ... day absolutely made. Hey nick it would be awesome if you did like a retro review on superjoint ritual... that debut is a fierce banger. The demos are sick too and there’s something about their sound that just explodes to me ... great ranking as always 🤘
If I were to rank Phil's albums, it would go like this. 6. Reinventing the Steel 5. Power Metal 4. Vulgar Display of Power 3. Far Beyond Driven 2. The Great Southern Trendkill 1. Cowboys from Hell
Go with Shred on this one..Vulgars my #1..When Pantera truly became Pantera! Walk, New Level, Mouth of War, Fucking Hostile...Phil's angry vocals, No BS attitude 💯
9 Metal Matic 8 I Am The Night 7 Projects In The Jungle 6 Power Metal 5 Reiventing The Steel 4 Cowboys From Hell 3 Far Beyond Driven 2 The Great Southern Trendkill 1 Vulgar Display Of Power
My ranking of pantera’s groove metal albums whould be this: 1. Vulgar display of power 2. Cowboys from hell 3. Far beyond driven 4. The great southern trendkill 5. Reinventing the steel
The solo on " The Sleep" from CFH is without a doubt one of the most underrated. Couldn't agree more Shredlord. Excellent banter for this ranking gentlemen, bravo.
Necrotic Nick- I'm excited for it but I'm still not sure if I'm going to see it yet. There's part of me that wants my Pantera live memories unspoiled just incase it's a disaster. I don't think it will be but there's always a chance.
I have an odd relationship with Pantera. Their slower songs Cemetery Gates, This Love, and Hollow are where thier genius is shown. The first time I heard Becoming was the release date and this dude I knew told me to get my ass over to his place to listen to the new Pantera. Becoming came on and I literally could not stop headbanging through that song.
Before the shooting, that club booked all kinds of extreme metal and death metal acts, it was awesome. After the shooting about all they could get was ICP knock offs and unheard of Nu-Metal acts. They finally went under in 2020.
I have the a strong suspicion that this going to be like every other Pantera album ranking ever made, you just shit talk the first 4 albums like everyone else does. When in reality I Am The Night and Power Metal are some of Pantera’s best music. I hope I’m wrong
Still remember when my girlfriend at that time came home with Vulgar display of power. And listen to Pantera for the first time. Love Vulgar and Cowboys 🔥🤘🏻 Awesome video 🤘🏻🔥🤘🏻CFH
Loved the ranking fellas! I’ve got to familiarize myself with the glam era of Pantera. I’m only familiar with cowboys onward. I hope all is well with your friend Rin , I always found him funny. Look forward to your next video!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! The glam stuff is definitely an acquired taste but Power Metal is a ripper honestly. Rin's doing good but he wants to step away from the channel and we get that doing this kinda thing isn't for everyone. He's still welcome to return though.
In my humble opinion: 9. Metal Magic 8. Projects In The Jungle 7. I Am The Night 6. Power Metal 5. Reinventing The Steel 4. Vulgar Display Of Power 3. Cowboys From Hell 2. Far Beyond Driven 1. The Great Southern Trendkill
Going to see the Pantera reunion with Metallica in Minneapolis. I never got a chance to see the og lineup. Good video. Reinventing the steel is my favorite Pantera album.
Don't love them even remotely close to as much as most metalheads do,but I appreciate their legacy/influence and all. That being said, I honestly don't think they have an album I would rate higher than a 7.5/10 Still, here's my list: 1. The great southern trendkill 2. Far beyond driven 3. Cowboys from hell 4. Vulgar display of power 5. Reinventing the steel 6. Power metal 7. I am the night 8. Projects in the jungle 9. Metal magic
Necrotic Nick- I get it. They definitely were divisive with some metal fans but like you said, that influence was immense in the 90's. That list is pretty close to mine honestly minus a couple of things honestly.
I’ve been a fan since I first heard Psycho Holiday on Headbangers Ball on MTV. For me though, Re-inventing the Steel is so damn underrated and my favorite Pantera album. So heavy and aggressive.
I'd rank my Pantera as: 1. Far Beyond Driven 2. Vulgar Display of Power 3. Cowboys from Hell 4. Reinventing the Steel 5. The Great Southern Trendkill 6. Power Metal 7. Projects in the Jungle 8. I Am the Night 9. Metal Magic I love Cowboys from Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, and Far Beyond Driven. That's cream of the crop Pantera, imo. Far Beyond Driven, for an album that went #1 on Billboard 200, is heavy af. You would think an album that does that would be more commercial, but it was more brutal and crunchier than ever, which I liked. And it's aged well, like you said. I'm with Shred on The Great Southern Trendkill. I think the fact that the band was not close affected the quality of the songs. I love Floods and the Suicide Note songs. 10's is also great, and that brutal scream to open the album is great. But it has songs like Living Through Me, 13 Steps to Nowhere, and Underground in America that are meh, imo. I was also never the biggest fan of Drag the Waters, as I found it lyrically repetitive. Glam-tera, outside of Power Metal, is kinda meh, but yeah, the improvement of Dimebag's guitar playing from Metal Magic to Projects in the Jungle is night and day. Honestly, the whole 1980s Pantera is more similar to listening to demos and seeing the band's coming into form, and the final realization of being onto something amazing was the opening riff to Cowboys from Hell. Pantera rules and they definitely helped saved heavy metal in the 1990s because it's amazing how irrelevant heavy metal music was to the mainstream in the 90s, with the grunge scene taking off and then alternative rock hit the mainstream. Metal music, after spending so many years in the mainstream in the 1980s, went back to the underground in the 1990s. Metallica kinda sold out and wrote basic, commercial metal, and Load/ReLoad suck. Megadeth kinda did too, even though I can still listen to Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Not saying there isn't good 90s metal because the underground extreme metal, such as progressive metal, death metal, and some black metal have amazing bands.
Love watching you guys and hearing your stories thoughts and opinions you've opened the door to many great artists for me. Hope to maybe one day see a six feet under album ranking as I feel that would be quite entertaining given the rating for their recent attempt stay metal 🤘
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! We really appreciate that. This one near and dear to our hearts since this band had a tremendous impact on all of us when we were young. It's always cool to hear people finding killer new music through our channel so I'm happy to hear that, We might do SFU one day... I'm not sure I want to but we might lol.
@@thrallsofmetal I'm sure it would be a chore to get through most it. You guys had me dying with the review of nightmares of the decomposed especially your impression of Chris Barnes. Thanks for all you do 🤘
Rin would definitely have to be back before SFU gets ranked. Maybe do some editing magic and have 5 Rins each ranking every album differently. I actually enjoyed Nightmares AND your review. It's not even my least favorite SFU album That's probably a tie between Torment and Crypt of the Devil. I don't hate them but they aren't go to albums either.
Wow! Ya'll are smarter than I thought! Far Beyond Driven is number one but Trendkill is close number 2. Underrated album IMO. Vulgar is still good but I just like Cowboys and Trendkill better now. Great ranking. I was happy not many of you chose Vulgar. I thought everyone was gonna choose that one for number 1.
I just found this channel, first video I watched was the Bloobath album ranking, then Opeth, then saw this one and damn..my love for Pantera was just completely reinvigorated. I moved towards the prog metal and tech death and forgot how intense their albums were. Far Beyond Driven is my #1.
Necrotic Nick- I think it's a good idea and they're doing it the right way by getting long time friends of the band to fill in on the tour. Zakk and Charlie will do Dime and Vinnie justice.
I've been a metalhead since 86 but didn't hear of Pantera at all until they dropped the video for Mouth For War and it totally blew me away - I bought Vulgar Display immediately and was totally floored by it (it's still in my top 10 favourite albums - a definite 10 out 10) - I then worked backwards and was a little underwhelmed by Cowboys (which has grown on me over the years, but I'm still not a massive fan - i know, blasphemy) - when I discovered their much earlier material I was completely surprised - it's fine but I never listen to it these days. For me it's all about Vulgar, Driven and Reinventing The Steel - I do have a soft spot for Power Metal too.
Far beyond is he no.1 all fucking day long! This was my first ever metal album, I bought it after hearing planet caravan thinking they were a chill band and then Strength beyond… hit me in the face and I was sold.
I pretty much completely agree with Shredlords list. CFH and VDOP are borderline flawless albums with nothing but excellent songs. FBD would be #3 for me, mostly excellent songs but one or 2 I don't care for, and TGST would be #5 since it's a great album, but not one I can pop on unless I'm in a certain mood.
I’ve been waiting for this video for so long that I somehow missed it initially and just managed to watch it, and gotta say this was entertaining as hell, you guys deserve all the views and subscribers in the world, thank you once again for awesome content! This is my list: 9. Metal Magic 8. Projects in the Jungle 7. I am the Night 6. Power Metal 5. Reinventing the Steel 4. Far Beyond Driven 3. Vulgar Display of Power 2. Cowboys from Hell 1. The Great Southern Trendkill (my favorite album of all time, across all genres)
Hmm... Trendkill or Far Beyond gotta take number 1 for me. 1-2 The Great Southern Trendkill/Far Beyond Driven 3 Vulgar Displays of Power 4 Reinventing the Steel 5 Cowboys from Hell 4th dude was right abt Vulgar. It is the first full incarnation of the completed version of Pantera that we know and love. Vulgar might be my 3rd favorite album from them but i will fully admit that that album was when they fully turned the corner and became THE Pantera. Far Beyond Driven might be my favortie Trendkill is amazing when listened to from start to finish. Far Beyond Driven can be listened to in singles better though. Anytime i listen to a Trendkill song i always have the urge to hit it from the beginning again
Great show boys! Only big surprise was Nick picking Power Metal #5. First time I heard Pantera was in 89, I got a copy of a copy on cassette of Power Metal. I listened a few times but at the time I was not into the Rob Halford style vocals. I was into Crossover, Thrash and NYHC. Fast foward a year and I see the CFH video on Headbangers Ball and I run out and buy CFH. Over the years I rediscovered how good Power Metal is. Plenty of Speed and Thrash riffs. First time I seen Pantera live was in 90 they opened up for Exodus and Suicidal at the Vic in Chicago. Still one of the my best shows. Neck stills hurts My list. The bottom 3 I don't listen to very often. Playlist of a few good tunes. 1. Far Beyond 2. CFH 3. Vulgar 4. GSTK 5. Reinventing 6. Power Metal 7. OTTN 8. PFTJ 9. Metal Magic
Reinventing the Steel wasnt my fav, however there's many B-sides from this era from film soundtracks that are quite excellent, like Avoid the Light and Immortally Insane. I feel like this was during the Ozzfest era and Pantera suddenly saw themselves as one of Nu-metal's projenitors and I recall they werent about it at all. So they sorta started adding a bit more bouncy thrash/power metal into their sound and go more melodic to break from that catagory and in a way I respect that even if it was a swansong, not a bad way to go but they were definitely burning out.
This is real tough because I think you can make good arguments for albums 5 through 8 being top dog. Dime's playing is just jawdropping on those albums, the rest of the band are routinely killer (I think Phil is a great lyricist from FBD onwards and this often gets a bit overlooked), but Dime really is magic. I think Vulgar is the best overall, but I like FBD the most and my favourite Pantera song is 'It Makes Them Disappear'.
Necrotic Nick- Far Beyond Driven, Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display of Power and The Great Southern Trendkill were all hard as hell to rank. Those albums all had such a huge impact on me as a teen so they all mean a lot to me. Far Beyond Driven was the one that got me into them and it holds up remarkably but I love the others. Even Reinventing the Steel has some killer tracks as you mentioned.
Great review. I'm a Cowboys/Vulgar guy! But I have been enjoying Power Metal in recent years(Phil's high-pitched vocals. 90s Pantera-Took Slayer out on the road with them, effectively saved metal during 90-96. Still listen to them🎶
Vulgar is the sweet spot for me between groove and heaviness and melody. Granted it's the first one I've heard, during a potato peeling session as a teenager where I started headbanging to the record and it took me forever to do the job, all from a borrowed 11th copy of a cassette that I really didn't want to give back after. Didn't even know the title of the album I just knew it was Pantera. Good times.
Necrotic Nick- Vulgar was the 3rd one I ever got as I started with Far Beyond Driven and I was hooked from there. Far Beyond Driven has always been my personal favorite for years. There's just something about that album that was so focused on anger that I just couldn't stop listening. Honestly, everything from Cowboys to Trendkill could have been my number 1 so this was a tough one to rank.
