“So he bailed on us and went and did a record with them instead, and so we were stuck without a producer. “Two days before we started recording, Max got a bigger and better offer from Lynch Mob,” explained Vinnie. Lined up to facilitate Pantera’s every sonic whim, Max seemed the perfect choice, but unfortunately the collaboration fell apart before it had even begun. With that in mind, as a new decade approached, the band headed to Pantego Sound Studio in Arlington, Texas, which was owned by Vinnie and Darrell’s father, to commence work on their fifth album with renowned producer Max Norman, who had previously sprinkled magic over albums by Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth and Savatage among many others. Ready to make an immediate impact, Pantera were eager to improve on the demo versions of future classics like Psycho Holiday, Domination and Cowboys From Hell itself and produce an album that would ensure their translocation from relative obscurity to international renown.

Our crowds were becoming more intense too.” The groove thing was the most important element in everything and that’s what really set us apart from the thrash metal bands and the plain old rock’n’roll bands. After we finished the next album, Power Metal, we realised that we weren’t wearing the clothes we wanted to wear and that we wanted to strip it all down. “Terry always wanted to do more of a David Lee Roth, poppy-type thing, but we were falling in love with Metallica and Slayer and stuff like that, so when we brought Phil on board we went a little more towards that stuff. “Three albums into it, we wanted to get heavier, but the singer we had at the time didn’t want us to go in that direction,” Vinnie Paul told Metal Hammer in 2010. Their first three full-length efforts – Metal Magic, Projects In The Jungle and I Am The Night – were spirited but unremarkable affairs, but it was with the departure of Terry and the recruitment of Louisiana-born vocalist Philip Anselmo that the true Pantera began to emerge.

Fronted by original singer Terry Glaze, Pantera dedicated themselves to playing live and honing their craft from the very beginning and soon earned a strong enough reputation to begin releasing albums.

Pantera cowboys from hell