It's hard to believe. There once was a time when Pantera had melody. There once was a time when Pantera had speed. There once was a time when Pantera's vocalist Phil Anselmo could actually sing.Cowboys From Hell is recognized by the band as being its debut album. This isn't technically true. Pantera released FOUR, count them, four, albums prior to Cowboys. The problem is that the four albums before this are a little more glam-metal oriented. The tough-guy groove metal band doesn't want to admit that it had a more colorful past.
Cowboys is the bridge between the band's earlier material and their groove metal material. As such, it is considerably different than their later sound. It is melodic, fast, and thrashy. Anselmo's voice actually spanned several octaves. The riffs were razor-sharp, but were faster. Diamond Darrell, as he was called then, did show some of the tone that he later made his trademark, but he played much faster.
Some of the songs, such as "Shattered" and "Domination" showed traces of their later, dumbed-down material. Then there were songs such as "The Sleep" and "Clash With Reality" that were considerably more melodic. Then there's "Cemetary Gates", one of my all time favorite songs. This is a great power ballad. Melodic, but still sinister and powerful. A great song and completely out of character for the same band that wrote "Walk".
I once told someone that this is my favorite Pantera album, it still is as I barely listen to the groove metal stuff. Their response was that this is not a "real Pantera album". Fucking poseur. This is true metal. A great album by a band that forgot how to be great. Sure, if they had continued down this path, they may not have had mainstream success. So what? The music was much better. That's the most important thing. R.I.P. Dimebag.
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