Metal Reviews

You are wrong about Pantera though. They never tried to "Hide" the fact that they were a Glam metal band. The fact is, those albums have been out of print for a long, long time. People try to accuse Pantera of trying to hide the those early albums because they've never re-released them, even at the height of their popularity, but there's a good reason why Pantera didn't do that. Those albums just plain aren't very good, and they didn't want to sell shit to thier fanbase just to make a buck. They were never about that. Also, anything Phil Anselmo has to say about that era of the band is irrelevant, because Phil wasn't even in the band back them. Terry Lee sung on those albums, and Phil joined on Power Metal. Phil trashes the Power Metal album because it features him wearing green lipstick on the cover.

As for the "trend riding" and hillbilly Metal comments, you do sound stupid with that. If anything, all of those mid 90's Metal bands ripped off Pantera, not the other way around.

Terry Glaze.

Why were the albums never mentioned in their album history then? Or on their main site in the height of their popularity? I understand them not wanting to rerelease the material or anything but it's really something they tried to keep hidden in my opinion.

Sorry, I'll revise my statement... Cowboys and beyond Pantera sounds like heavily southern influenced thrash metal to me and they changed from glam to the 90's style thrash they had to avoid being rubbed out like the rest of the glam bands. Why ELSE would they entirely change and then mention nothing of it? Some bands have had major changes but going from wearing makeup and being called Diamond Darrel to being shitkicking thrashing metal is quite the change.

I understand why they may not want to rerelease anything during the height of their popularity or even mention the older albums, but the fact is they existed as a power metal glam 80's band was quite hidden until the glory days of the internets. Many a Pantera fan is in the dark about Glamtera. Of course not us nerdy internet metalheads, but a lot of fans I've met had no idea of their past.

As I said it's my opinion. Not fact. I think they're terrible and I hate them with quite the passion. I was harassed in highscool for not liking them and for listening to " Happy metal " like In Flames or At The Gates back in the day.

'nuff said I guess. We all have our opinions and I've really nothing more to add. I guess I'm just a moron who likes shitty music. Wheeeee.

Great, here comes a four-page argument.

Sorry to disappoint.

If you didn't live in Texas at the time, those albums were pretty much non-existant. The print runs on them were so low, especially on Compact Disc, that it's hard to consider them anything much more than demos. They weren't on a label or anything like that, and I'm not sure what the point of putting albums that are impossible to get up on the official website would be.

That and they weren't straight Glam albums. Darrell always wore his different influences and styles on his sleeve. Take out the cheesey lyrics, and there isn't much Glam at all.

As for the make-up, even Slayer did that shit.

Metal Magic sounds nothing like I Am the Night.
I Am the Night sounds nothing like Projects in the Jungle.
Projects in the Jungle sounds nothing like Power Metal.
Power Metal does sound like Cowboys From Hell.
Cowboys From Hell sounds nothing like Vulgar Display of Power.
Vulgar Display of Power sounds nothing like Far Beyond Driven.
Far Beyond Driven sounds nothing like Great Southern Trendkill.
Great Southern Trendkill sounds nothing like Reinventing the Steel.

Basically they changed throughout their entire career. And plenty of bands played a different style before breaking through to a major label with a style that's different than what they started with. People just thought it would be funny to say "Pantera wuz Glam metal, HUR HUR." Therion doesn't exaclty run around promoting the fact that they started out as a shitty run of the mill Death Metal band, and neither does The Gathering.

Why didn't I say Job For A Cowboy? Scene kids sport JFAC shirts all around school on a daily basis, and they just plain aren't good. I don't get it. :(

That and Killswitch Engage. Hate's a strong word for them, but really, I don't much like them at all. Maybe I'm just sick of the "Harsh verse, clean chorus" formula.

Now that you mention it Slayer is another band that I really don't care for that have a huge fan base.

Good live show though.

Here's a rumor that I heard a while back. At a Pantera show around '91/'92, some Pantera fans went backstage to meet the band. One fan wanted Phil to sign his copy of I believe Metal Magic. Phil looked at the album, and immediately beat the living daylights out of the fan.

Anyway, I think Phil Anselmo is probably the guy who did away with Pantera's whole glam image. A lot of people say Pantera simply changed their image for fame and money. If they WERE just out for fame and money, I would think they would have stuck with the glam image since that's what was popular at the time. A big part of what made Pantera popular is that they didn't really care about being hip or trendy. An image that was growing increasingly popular with the mainstream as the grunge age was taking off around the same time Pantera got big.

Not to mention just about every nu-metal band has ripped off Pantera in one way or another.

Hey I like old Therion! Not as good as the new one but still solid...

The Death Metal stuff isn't really bad, but I do see why they changed styles. They weren't doing much to stand out in a highly crowded genre. The Gathering's DM stuff is awful.

Dimmu Borgir
Cradle Of Filth

No, in fact the exact opposite was true. Glam was dying on its arse by the dawn of the 90s and what was "in" in terms of rock music was being all edgey and contemptuous of glam and trad metal in general.

Not that I'm saying Pantera jumped a trend, because if they did they would have played grunge, but they definitely got away from the big hair/make-up thing right when it started getting shouted down.

You guys are forgetting that Prong, Alice in Chains, Pantera and Skid Row all influenced each to such a degree that if those had not toured together NONE of them would be where they are today. They all saw where music was going and kind of taught each other how to stay relevant in Metal. Each one of those bands saw something in another that could help bring their sound forward and all of them got better because of it.

Compare every album all four bands did pre-1990 and all the ones they did after they toured together in different combinations relentlessly. The influence that had on each other's sound was remarkable.

I think it is funny that all four bands are part of different scenes, but the reality is that they sounded pretty similar at one time.

Alice in chains is considered "grunge"
Pantera is considered "thrash"
Prong is considered "hardcore metal" or whatever
Skid Row is considered "Hair Metal"

If this werent the internet I'd mount you and fuck your face until every time you tried to smile your gums would touch. Bastard.

Not all but most Meshuggah. I don't know what people see but playing the same chug for 5 minutes is what they do sometimes, and there's nothing good about that.

Hes got a point there tho, even if those albums are just demos like you say, its very odd not to have them on the discog do you not think?

oh and for the record, i like Pantera. Tho i think they are a bit overated

Boo! It bends, dude. Bends.

I can't stand any Meshuggah besides Catch33 and I. All the other stuff feels like a song goes nowhere, then stops for a second, then the next song does exactly the same thing.