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Pantera: Cowboys from hell

20/07/09 || Smalley

If you wanna get into certain genres of metal, some albums are just necessary. For thrash metal, it’s “Master of puppets”; for death, “Human”. And for groove metal, it’s without a doubt, “Cowboys from hell”. “Cowboys” is one of those rare albums that pretty much served as the single-handed genesis of an entire sound; not to say the album was born from a precursor-less vacuum (all music has influences, of course), but “Cowboys” was the first real example of groove metal, and it’s hard to imagine where the sub-genre would’ve gone without this record (if it could’ve gone anywhere at all). It was here that Pantera made the leap here from being an obscure glam act to one of the most influential metal bands of the 1990’s, taking the thrash metal style and turning the speed down, resulting in a much catchier (or groovier) sound, and also ironically aiding in the temporary death of thrash, as almost all the old-school bands dropped the style to follow what Pantera was doing, in one way or another.

The title track opens “Cowboys” up with a somewhat dated sound quality, particularly on the guitar tones and Phil Anselmo’s strained falsetto vocals, but that’s acceptable, considering how fresh out of the 80’s this album was anyway. What counts is how the basic music still holds up nineteen years on, with fragmented, catchy riffing, and energetic, well-played soloing from Dimebag (no, I’m not calling him “Diamond”), both of which make the title track a good place for the album to start, and show how “Cowboys” was the perfect change for metal after thrash’s time within the spotlight.

“Primal concrete sledge” keeps the energy high with a rough, wrenching main riff, and excellent, very prominent low-end work from Rex Brown, and following tracks “Psycho holiday” and “Heresy” only continue laying the foundation for groove metal with their appealingly chuggy riffing. “Cemetery gates” then gives us a break from Pantera’s tough-guy act (the only such break we’ll get here) with a piano and an acoustic guitar making welcome appearances, and lyrics that go much deeper than just “Violence! Rebellion! Toughness!”. It also has the best use of Dimebag’s lead guitar on the album (which is saying something, believe me), and some very cool falsetto screams by Anselmo towards the end, and while some may label it a power ballad, that doesn’t matter; what it is in the end is just a great song…

“Domination” brings us back to heavy, a mode “Cowboys” will stay in for the remainder of its running time, with Vinne Paul performing some remarkably energetic drumwork in the album’s second half, serving as a perfect complement to the riffs. “Shattered” oddly has Anselmo making extensive use of his falsetto, a mis-step, but the only real one that I can point out here (in the entire album, not just its second half); every remaining song just offers us more sharp riffage, energetic solos, and appropriately bad-ass lyrics, rendering this a remarkably consistent album. The stop-start “Message in blood” would be my pick for the highlight of the second half, but again, every single track on “Cowboys” (yes, including the aforementioned “Shattered”) is good.

So, the fresh take on metal offered on “Cowboys” helped to influence the sound of so many bands that came afterwards, and even if you’ve heard takes on the basic sound here before (a very likely thing), “Cowboys” is still very much worth checking out. It’s worth checking out even for those somewhat familiar with Pantera already (which is also a likely thing), since not only does Phil sing a different way than the shout he’d stick to on future albums (variety is good, ya know), the music here still rocks, even for me, despite going through my Pantera phase seven years ago and losing a lot of interest in them since. “Cowboys from hell” kicks my ass even today, and will probably do so for forever, and it’ll kick your ass if you haven’t yet had the pleasure, so enjoy this coming ass-kicking.

8.5 cow pies from heck out of 10.

Information
Released: 1990
Label: Atlantic
Website: www.pantera.com
Pantera
Phil Anselmo: vocals
Diamond Darrell: guitars
Rex Brown: bass
Vinnie Paul: drums

Tracklist
01. Cowboys From Hell
02. Primal Concrete Sledge
03. Psycho Holiday
04. Heresy
05. Cemetery Gates
06. Domination
07. Shattered
08. Clash With Reality
09. Medicine Man
10. Message in Blood
11. The Sleep
12. The Art of Shredding

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