Albums Ranked: Pantera

Pantera became on of the biggest bands in the world during the 90’s and were at the forefront of a new style of metal, groove. They’re influence can be found everywhere after them even in bands that you might not guess, but that’s for future family tree stuff. A very divisive band, Pantera is often hated by “true” metal heads. Most of this comes from the fact that Phil isn’t a very likable guy to many. His lyrics are filled with the “I’m tougher than you” attitude that turns off many metal heads. It also doesn’t help that they gave rise to so many Pantera wanna be bands. Even most of the thrash bands followed Pantera in playing groove through the mid and late 90’s and sometimes beyond. For many newer generation metal heads, Pantera was their Metallica or Sabbath and became the fathers of a new generation of metal. This puts Pantera in a place where they are both extremely loved or hated by many. Besides their more well known groove metal albums, Pantera also had their much lesser known albums that predated Cowboys From Hell and for this list they are counted along side the others..

How this works; Songs are rated on a 5 star rating with each star having a value that is averaged together for the album rating.  Average album rating will equal the band’s rating

1 star=0, I hate it!  The world would be better off without this.

2 stars=25,  I don’t like it but it could be worse

3 stars= 50, decent song but not special

4 stars=75, good song but is missing something that might make it amazing

5 stars=100,  Amazing!

Live albums, demos, cover albums and EP’s are not included.

Note: Popular doesn’t mean great and importance doesn’t mean it’s good either.  A chart topping song only means it is watered down enough for a mainstream audience

#9

Metal Magic - 62.5%

Pantera’s first album and their weakest. For the casual fan it might be a surprise that anything before Cowboys even exists and that before Phil there was Terry Glaze. These albums are often considered glam metal and that isn’t completely untrue. However, I think saying everything they did early on was glam isn’t exactly true. Although there is a lot that I would consider glam, there are also more traditional heavy metal tracks. I would compare early Pantera to something like Def Leppard for anyone who is unfamiliar with it. Terry’s voice reminds me a lot of Joe Elliot. This album also has synthisizers sprinkled through it making it seem even more glam than it might otherwise. Lyrics are also very glam.

The Good: Early on Dime is still shredding up a storm, even on the weaker tracks. Widowmaker might be my favorite track on here for the riffing alone. It reminds me of a Ted Nugent style of playing as well as a lot of other riffs on the album.

The Bad: The production quality isn’t the best and this can be said on all the early albums to an extent. It’s full of bad overly sexual lyrics like you can expect with most glam bands. There are plenty of synths that didn’t age well.

Normally I would give an amazon link for you to buy this, but unfortunately the early Pantera albums are super hard to find. If you happen to find them on amazon it might be like $200. I have a couple of the early ones in physical. I would maybe suggest ebay. Since they are so difficult to track down I’d also just advise listening to them on youtube.

#8

I Am the Night - 67.5%

Pantera’s 3rd album still has a lot of the glam elements but in general this album is much heavier than their first. It still has a lot of similarities to something like Def Leppard but also has similarities to something more like Ozzy’s first four albums.

The Good: There are some really great riffing on this album such as on “Onward We Rock” and “Right on the Edge”. As always Dim’s leads are great.

The Bad: production makes the vocals abrasive at times. The cheesy lyrics are all over this album.

#7

Far Beyond Driven - 70.83%

I’ve already lost many readers buy such blaspheme as placing this album so low. Not only is it low but lower than some of the “glam” albums. Remember that ratings are based on average track ratings and although there are some great 5 out of 5 star songs there are also some crap and songs that are repetitive and boring. album that pulls it down.

The Good: “5 Minutes Alone” and “Broken” These songs contain two the of the most quintessential groove riffs ever written. I also really like Slaughtered.

The Bad: “Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills” has got to be the worst Pantera song ever written. Phil’s droning combined with dissonant riffing that is just unpleasant on the ears. This song is the kinda crap that might as well be on a Nu metal album.

#6

The Great Southern Trendkill - 77.27%

The opening of this album is one of the most brutal things that exists outside of death metal. It makes a great alarm in the morning and is also good for nearly giving heart attacks to unsuspecting sleeping friends. This album for sure has the most intense and brutal stuff Pantera ever wrote, but also has plenty of great grooves.

The Good: “The Great Southern Trendkill”, and “Suicide Note, Pt. 2” are your most brutal tracks on here.

The Bad: “10’s” is a song that tends to drag but it’s not bad. “13 Steps” is another one that drags at moments and really doesn’t offer anything super exciting even if the drumming stands out.

#5

Projects in the Jungle - 77.5%

Barley edging out over Trendkill, this album is good in a different way. This album is still considered a “Glam” album but for glam it’s heavy and often more speed metal sounding then glam. Vocals and Lyrics are improved on this album even if the production still doesn’t do anything good for the vocal tracks.

The Good: Riffing and overall drive on the album is strong and Terry wouldn’t sound to bad if the production was better. Lyrics aren’t the best but

The Bad: The production is the thing that holds this back the most. I would love to hear this remastered but sadly that will probably never happen.

#4

Reinventing the Steel - 80%

This album really has some great songs through the first half but the second half the album really doesn’t compare to the first five tracks

The Good: The first five tracks on this album are great. “Revolution Is My Name” is one of my favorite Pantera songs

The Bad: The second half of the album is ok but the songs don’t have anything that really makes them great and seem like filler compared to the first half.

#3

Vulgar Display of Power - 84.09%

This is a really good one. The follow up to Cowboy’s this album doesn’t disappoint. Phil completely leaves behind the high notes from here on.

The Good: “By Demons Be Driven”, “Rise”, “Fucking Hostile”, This album has a lot of great tracks

The Bad: “Walk”… I use to like this song but it is one of the most over played songs ever. It’s a good song only until a few hundred listens and now I can barely stand the song most of the time.

#2

Power Metal - 85%

Pantera’s fourth and Phil’s first. This album still keeps some of the glam sound but I wouldn’t consider it a glam album although it does have hints of the glam left on it. I would call this a heavy metal album. It certainly isn’t groove but at times I would call it thrash. Phil believe it or not reminds me a lot of Geoff Tate and Rob Halford on this album. Phil sounds amazing on this album. Musically it this album is a good bridge between their more glam past to their groove future. There are a lot of similarities to Cowboys from Hell with this album.

The Good: Great vocals from Phil, great riffing and shredding from Dime. “Power Metal” and “Burnnn” are two of the best tracks.

The Bad: They lyrics are cheesy at times and there are a few glamy tracks but I think the strong moments make up for the weak ones.

#1

Cowboys From Hell - 87.5

This album was my first Pantera album and considered the first to the casual fans that don’t know better. It has the heaviness of new Pantera and Phil still has some of his high range on this album. There are few albums that can be claimed to change the musical world, but this one did. This album brought groove metal to the world. After Thrash dominated the 80’s this album would effect the following generation of metal guitar playing. Obviously the following Pantera albums would refine groove metal but this one kicked it off. Someone is going to be saying “but what about Exhorder?” It’s is true that Pantera, in perticular Phil were familiar with Exhorder. It is likely that Phil changed his vocal style being influenced by Exhorder. It’s possible the heavy guitar tones are also influenced by Exhorder. Just like Thrash bands in the bay area tried to out speed each other there is no reason to think that Pantera didn’t play heavier after exposed to Exhorder. In the same way Pantera became increasingly thrashy after exposure to Metallica and other thrash bands. Did Pantear rip off Exhorder… no. Exhorder was more of a thrash band and almost even on the verge of death. Pantera presented a much more controlled and precise sound and it was a natural evolution from thrash which is why so many thrash bands switched to playing groove. Modern thrash wouldn’t be the same without Pantera’s influence. For good or bad, Pantera sound starting with this album changed the future of metal.

The Good: This album basically presented the groove metal sound kicking off with the title track “Cowboys From Hell.” It grooves but still has a lot of thrash in it with songs like “Domination.” Phil sounds heavy but still shows his amazing range in “Cemetery Gates.” It’s Certainly Phil’s best performance on any song. He still has some great highs on “Shattered” which sounds like something off of Painkiller. Dimes leads are incredible and the whole bands sounds incredibly tight. Back to “Domination,” the end of this song might be one of the first break downs in metal. A decade before it became standard to over play constant break downs, Pantera did it tastefully. It’s basically the prototype for how to do a break down right.

The Bad: This album doesn’t really have any bad tracks but If I had to pick one “Medicine Man” is perhaps the weakest track. I could also see how someone might find “Primal Concrete Sledge” as repetitive, but I still like it.

Bonus Albums

Damage Plan - New Found Power - 44.642%

Although technically not a Pantera album, it might as well be. Pantera was Pantera before Phil so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be without him and Rex. Although, I’m glad it isn’t called a Pantera album given its overall quality. This album ventures into alternative and nu metal and less than half would I call groove. Perhaps this would have been a better album with Phil, but I don’t know. I think the lack of Rex for sure hurts. With a new name it seems the Abbotts felt free to try a new sound. I’m not sure the same album would have been written under the Pantera name. It’s also hard to believe that the man behind the vocals on this album are the same man behind much of the guitars for Halford.

The Good: There are some good moments scattered on this album but I didn’t give any tracks 5 stars

The Bad: This album has some strait up Nu-metal crap on it with “Blink of an Eye” and “Reborn” being the worse. These songs might as well be on a Korn album.

but hey, if you love Dime and also Nu-metal then why not…

Rebel Meets Rebel - 72.91%

This is a collaborative album with David Allen Coe and Pantera minus Phil. It’s a heavy album with an outlaw country flair.

The Good - “Nothin’ to Lose” and “No Compromise” are my favorite songs on here. “Panfilo” must be mentioned as being an amazing acoustic guitar piece.

The Bad - Not being a fan of country holds this album back for me personally but if you like metal and country this should be a great combo for you. It’s actually only subtly country and is really more of a metal album… a Country Metal album.