We Love You, Pantera

Hopefully, you were going to find out about this show tonight, when you head out to The Talent Farm for the Mend A Heart Benefit Show. But just in case your heart is made of stone and bile, here's your heads up on an ultra heavy show happening at the same venue 24 hours later. Pantera was one of the greatest metal bands of the '90s. In the' 80s... not so much. After a humble beginning as a glam rock band in the early to mid-'80s that sang songs like Metal Magic. The band grabbed lead singer Phil Anselmo in '87. Their last glam metal album, Power Metal, came out the following year to another chilly critical and commercial reaction. That's when things got awesome. Phil and the boys worked on a new album, with a totally new, wholly aggressive style for two years. In 1990, Cowboys From Hell was released and millions of lifelong Pantera fans were born. Eschewing power ballads and whiney guitar solos, Cowboys From Hell features songs like Primal Concrete Sledge. Four local bands are strapping on their axes and doing their best impressions of Dimebag Darrell (R.I.P.), Phil Anselmo, Vinnie Paul, and Rex Rocker tomorrow night. Warrick, who claim via their Myspace page to sound like "your mom getting gangbanged by twenty black guys in the ass..."), is pure Hialeah metal. Dark Solace, who claim Miami, are a little more melodic and a lot more progressive when it comes to their particular brand of metal. Plus, they have no references to gangbanging on their Myspace page. The Afflicted, the most melodic of the bands playing tomorrow night, seem like the best bet to nail down the early 90's Pantera sound. Finally, the band with the greatest name on the bill by a long shot, Blowtorch Sodomy, will be mixing their Death Metal sound with a little Vulgar Display of Power.
Sat., Dec. 12, 2009