Pantera

They secured a record deal with major label Atco the following year. Their fifth album, 1990's Cowboys from Hell, popularized the Groove metal genre, while its 1992 follow-up Vulgar Display of Power achieved an even heavier sound. Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Tensions began to surface among the band members when Phil Anselmo became addicted to heroin in 1995; he almost died from an overdose in 1996. These tensions resulted in the recording sessions for The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) being held separately. The ongoing tension lasted for another seven years, during which only one studio album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), was recorded. Pantera went on hiatus in 2001 but lingering disputes led to the band breaking up in 2003. The Abbott brothers went on to form Damageplan while Phil Anselmo continued to work on several side projects, including Down, which Rex Brown joined as well.

On December 8, 2004, Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage by a mentally unstable fan during a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio. Vinnie Paul went on to form Hellyeah after his brother's death, and died of heart failure in 2018, leaving Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo as the only surviving members of the band's best-known lineup.

In July 2022, it was announced that Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo were reuniting in 2023 for Pantera's first tour in 22 years, with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante filling in for the Abbott brothers on guitar and drums, respectively. The new lineup played its first show in 21 years at the Hell and Heaven festival in Mexico on December 2, 2022, and the band's reunion tour will continue into 2024.

In 1984, Pantera released their second studio album, Projects in the Jungle. Although still very much a glam metal album, the band members crafted songs that had less overbearing melodic influences than songs from the previous album. Another change was Terry Glaze's name, as he was henceforth credited as "Terrence Lee". In addition, a music video for the album's lead track, "All Over Tonight", was eventually created. Projects in the Jungle was also released on the band's independent Metal Magic Records label and produced by Jerry Abbott.

In 1985, Pantera released their third studio album, titled I Am the Night. As with Projects in the Jungle, this album saw Pantera's sound becoming heavier (though still rooted in glam metal), and the heavy metal press took more notice of the band. Because of poor distribution, I Am the Night turned out to be a costly album to many fans. Around 25,000 copies of the album were sold. Pantera's second music video was produced for the track "Hot and Heavy".

Pantera next auditioned El Paso native Rick Mythiasin, later to sing for Steel Prophet and Agent Steel; however, cultural and image differences, Rick Mythiasin failed to adapt to the Southern culture of the other members, meant his tenure was even shorter than that of Matt L'Amour. A former schoolmate of the Abbott brothers, David Peacock of the band Forced Entry (who had supported Warlock), joined the band as lead vocalist in the spring of 1986, but despite Pantera doing most of the work for their fourth album during the summer with David Peacock, Rex Brown and the Abbotts found David Peacock's voice to be unsuited to the musical direction Pantera wished for. By the end of the year, Pantera even revisited original frontman Donny Hart, but Donny Hart himself knew that he was not the right man Pantera were seeking and Jerry Abbott was to fire him.

During 1986, New Orleans native Phil Anselmo had heard that Pantera were looking for a singer. At the end of the year, they invited him to audition, and the eighteen-year old Phil Anselmo was hired as the new vocalist on the spot. Phil Anselmo had previously been the vocalist for the bands Samhain (not to be confused with Glenn Danzig's band of the same name) and Razor White. Upon playing with Pantera, Phil Anselmo immediately clicked with the other three members.

In 1988, with Phil Anselmo as the new vocalist, Pantera released their fourth studio album, titled Power Metal. Power Metal, like Pantera's previous three albums, was released by Metal Magic Records, but showcased a change in their sound. By far the band's heaviest album at this point, Power Metal had little resemblance to the Power metal subgenre, but was a mix of 1980s Glam metal and Thrash metal, sometimes blending both styles in a single song. Complementing the band's new sonic approach were Phil Anselmo's harder-edged vocals compared to those of Terry Glaze. After the release of Power Metal, the band members decided to seriously reconsider their glam metal image and sound. Referring to the band's spandex appearance, Vinnie Paul remarked at a band meeting that "These magic clothes don't play music; we do. Let's just go out there and be comfortable, jeans, t-shirt, whatever, and see where it goes." The band members would later ignore their independent releases, including Power Metal, as they sculpted a new, heavier image to accompany their later Groove metal sound. Their four independent albums are not listed on the band's official website and have become hard-to-find collector's items.

Atco Records accepted, and at the conclusion of 1989, the band recorded its major label debut at Pantego Studios and hired Terry Date to produce it, in large part because of his work with Soundgarden, Metal Church and Overkill, the latter of whose latest album at the time The Years of Decay was one of the sources of inspiration behind Pantera's transition away from Glam/traditional Heavy metal to Thrash/Groove metal, as well as Diamond Darrell's guitar tone on the album.

Looking for their first big breakthrough, Pantera released their fifth studio album, titled Cowboys from Hell, on July 24, 1990, which was produced by Pantera and Date. Pantera showed a more extreme style on this outing, leaving behind its glam metal influences in favor of mid-tempo thrash metal dubbed "power groove" (groove metal) by the band. Although Anselmo still used some Rob Halford-influenced vocals, he also adopted a more abrasive delivery. Dimebag Darrell's more complex guitar solos and riffs, along with his brother's faster-paced drumwork were evidence of the band's extreme transformation. The album marked a critical juncture in the band's history. Many fans, as well as the band itself, consider it Pantera's "official" debut. Cowboys included the tracks "Cemetery Gates", a brooding seven-minute piece that focuses on death and religion, and the thrashing title track, which gave the band members their nickname and asserted their raucous personality and style.

To promote its latest album, Pantera began the Cowboys from Hell tour alongside thrash acts Exodus and Suicidal Tendencies. In 1991, Rob Halford performed with the band onstage, which led Pantera (along with Annihilator) to open for Judas Priest on its first show in Europe. They also opened for other bands like Sepultura, Fates Warning, Prong, Mind Over Four, and Morbid Angel, and co-headlined a North American tour with Wrathchild America. The band eventually landed a billing for Monsters of Rock in Moscow with AC/DC and Metallica in September 1991, where they played to a crowd of over 500,000 in attendance to celebrate the new freedom of performing Western music in the Soviet Union shortly before its downfall three months later. The band was often found at the Dallas club "the Basement", where the band shot the videos for "Cowboys from Hell" and "Psycho Holiday". Pantera's 2006 home video compilation 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell features performances of "Primal Concrete Sledge", "Cowboys from Hell", "Domination", and "Psycho Holiday" from the show in Moscow.

Singles from Vulgar Display of Power also received significant airplay on radio as did the companion music videos on MTV. The album entered the American charts at No. 44. Pantera went on tour again, visiting Japan for the first time in July 1992 and later performing at the "Monsters of Rock" festival co-headlined by Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath in Italy. It was around this time that Darrell Abbott dropped the nickname "Diamond Darrell" and assumed "Dimebag Darrell", and Rex Brown dropped the pseudonym "Rex Rocker".

Pantera released their seventh studio album, titled Far Beyond Driven, on March 22, 1994, which debuted at No. 1 in both United States and Australian album charts. The album's first single, "I'm Broken", earned the band's first Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" in 1995. The album saw Pantera continue its Groove metal approach, while taking an even more extreme direction with its musical style. The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) was banned, so it was re-released with the familiar skull impaled with a drill bit. A limited edition was released with a slip-cover case. Also, a boxed set called Driven Down Under Tour '94 Souvenir Collection was released in Australia and New Zealand to coincide with the tours there. It featured Far Beyond Driven (with its original banned artwork) with a bonus 13th track, "The Badge" (a Poison Idea cover), the 5-track "ALIVE and hostile e.p"., and the Japanese collector's edition Walk EP, all presented in a special cardboard box with an 8-page color biography.

Pantera began touring again, starting in South America, along with being accepted into another "Monsters of Rock" billing. At that festival on June 4, 1994, the Abbott brothers got into a scuffle with journalists from the music magazine Kerrang! over unflattering cartoon depictions of drummer Vinnie Paul. Then in late June, Phil Anselmo was charged with assault for attacking a security guard after he prevented fans from getting on stage. Phil was released on a $5,000 bail the next day. The trial was delayed three times. In May 1995, he apologized in court and pleaded guilty to attempted assault and was ordered to undergo 100 hours of community service. Pantera continued their tour of the United Kingdom in 1994 and eventually ended it in the United States where the band was opened for by fellow groove metal band Prong.

Their 1995 debut, Nola, was a success, but shortly afterwards, the group members returned to their respective bands, leaving Down inactive for several years.

Pantera's eighth studio album, The Great Southern Trendkill, was released on May 7, 1996, and is often considered their "overlooked" album. Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals for this release in Nine Inch Nails frontman, Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans while the rest of the band recorded in Dallas, evidence of the continued distancing between Phil Anselmo and the rest of the band. In comparison to the band's previous efforts, there was a heavier emphasis on vocal overdubbing in a somewhat "demonic" fashion. Drug abuse is a recurring theme in Trendkill, as exemplified by tracks such as "Suicide Note Pt. I", "Suicide Note Pt. II", "10's", and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)". "Drag the Waters" became the album's only music video, and likewise, the only track from the album to appear on the band's compilation album, The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! The album's other single, "Floods", achieved acclaim largely because of Darrell's complex guitar solo in the song, which ranked No. 15 on Guitar World magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" of all-time.

The band also received their second and third "Best Metal Performance" Grammy Nominations for The Great Southern Trendkill's "Suicide Note (Pt. I)" and Cowboys' "Cemetery Gates" in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The release of their video 3 Watch It Go earned them a 1997 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award, when it was voted Best Video Cassette.

Also in 1997, Pantera played on the mainstage of Ozzfest alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head, and Powerman 5000. Additionally, the band played on the 1998 UK Ozzfest tour alongside Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Slayer, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Therapy?, as well as touring with Clutch and Neurosis.

Around this time, Phil Anselmo ventured into more side projects, such as playing guitars on Necrophagia's 1999 release Holocausto de la Morte, where he went as the alias "Anton Crowley", which combines the names of Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and occultist Aleister Crowley. He also temporarily joined the Black metal supergroup Eibon and contributed vocals to that band's only 2 songs. Another one of Phil Anselmo's "Anton Crowley" projects was black metal band Viking Crown. The Abbott brothers and Rex Brown began their own Country metal crossover project, Rebel Meets Rebel with David Allan Coe, around the same time.

The band wrote a song for the NHL's Dallas Stars during the team's 1999 Stanley Cup Championship run, "Puck Off", which in recent years has been used as the Stars' goal song at American Airlines Center. Throughout the season, members of the team befriended members of Pantera. During a Stanley Cup party hosted by Vinnie Paul, the Stanley Cup was damaged when Guy Carbonneau attempted to throw the Cup from the balcony of Vinnie Paul's house into his pool. The Cup landed short on the concrete deck and had to be repaired by NHL commissioned silversmiths.

In 2001, the band once again returned to touring, playing with fellow metal bands Morbid Angel, Skrape, Slayer, and Static-X as part of the Extreme Steel Tour of North America. They were also guest musicians on the show SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode "Pre-Hibernation Week", performing the song "Death Rattle" from Reinventing the Steel. Following the Extreme Steel tour, a planned tour of Europe was cut short as a result of the September 11 attacks, which left the band stranded in Dublin, Ireland for six days as a result of all flights being canceled. Pantera played their last show in Yokohama, Japan at the 'Beast Feast' festival on August 28, 2001. This would be the last time the members of Pantera performed together. Back home, the band planned to release its fourth home video in Summer 2002 and record another studio album later that year, but neither came about.

Anselmo again engaged in numerous side projects. In March 2002, Down released its second studio album, Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, which featured Rex Brown on bass following Todd Strange's departure in 1999. Rex Brown remained Down's full-time bassist until 2011, having appeared on their subsequent release of Down III Over the Under in 2007.  Also, in May of that year, Phil Anselmo's Superjoint Ritual released its debut album, Use Once and Destroy. Vinnie Paul claimed that Phil Anselmo told him that he would take a year off following the events of September 11, 2001, but Phil Anselmo's touring and recording output for both Superjoint Ritual and Down contradicted this. The Abbott brothers were frustrated, and held out for an indefinite period of time, assuming that Phil Anselmo would return. However, according to Phil Anselmo, taking a break from Pantera was a "mutual thing" between each of the band members.

The Abbott brothers officially disbanded Pantera in November 2003, also the year when their best-of compilation album The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!  was released, when the Abbott brothers concluded that Phil Anselmo had abandoned them and would not return. The disbandment of the band was not amicable and subsequently a war of words was waged between the former bandmates via the press. Phil Anselmo's comment in a 2004 issue of Metal Hammer magazine, saying that Dimebag would "attack him" verbally and "deserves to be beaten severely", typified Pantera's internal conflicts; Phil insisted that this comment was tongue-in-cheek, and he was upset that his comment ended up on the cover of the "god damn" magazine. This explanation was soon dismissed by Vinnie Paul, who said shortly after the 2004 murder of his brother that he had personally listened to the audio files of the interview and that Phil Anselmo had not been misquoted or misrepresented, but said the exact words which appeared in the article. Caught up in the torrent was Rex Brown, who later said "It was a bunch of he said, she said nonsense that was going on, and I wasn't going to get in the middle of it." In July 2004, Vulgar Display of Power went double-platinum, and The Great Southern Trendkill went platinum the next month.

No motive has been given as to why Nathan Gale killed Dimebag Darrell and the other victims, but early theories, which were dismissed by police, suggested that Nathan Gale, who was reported to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was apparently upset over Pantera's breakup. In a number of interviews, some of Nathan Gale's friends suggested that he claimed that he had written songs that were stolen by Pantera.

A week after the shooting, it was reported that album sales of both Damageplan and Pantera albums jumped sharply.

He requested in his will to be buried in a Kiss Kasket, as he sort of learned his rock 'n' roll roots by listening to us for some strange reason." Not long after Darrell's murder, Phil Anselmo received a heated message from Vinnie, which (according to Phil Anselmo) "went along the lines that my (Anselmo's) day was coming." Phil Anselmo's rebuttal was that everybody's day is coming and that if his day should end before Vinnie's it would not change anything, except for Vinnie to go through "losing another brother".

On May 11, 2006, the VH1 Behind the Music episode on Pantera premiered. While focusing heavily on Darrell's murder and burial, the episode also detailed the band's Glam metal beginnings, the band's rise in popularity after the change in musical direction, and the conflicts between Phil Anselmo and the Abbott brothers in the band's later years that would tear them apart. When asked by Crave Music in 2006 if there was any chance of reconciling with Phil Anselmo, Vinnie Paul answered "Absolutely not. That's it." The former Pantera drummer subsequently began work on Hellyeah, a collaboration between him and members from Mudvayne and Nothingface. Both Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown reunited with Down, and supported Heaven & Hell and Megadeth on their 2007 Canadian tour, as well as supporting Metallica on the first half of their World Magnetic Tour.

In interviews in 2009 and 2010, both Rita Haney and Phil Anselmo stated that, after a meeting at Download 2009, they had patched up their differences and are once again on speaking terms. On March 30, 2010, Pantera released a greatest-hits compilation album, titled "1990–2000: A Decade of Domination". It was made available exclusively at Walmart stores and is made up of 10 tracks that were remastered.

On April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards a new song, titled "Piss", was debuted after being discovered in the Pantera "vaults" by Vinnie Paul. A music video was made for "Piss" and shown at the awards show and, according to Vinnie Paul, this is the only complete previously unheard Pantera track. It was recorded during the Vulgar Display of Power sessions. During a 2012 appearance on That Metal Show, when asked about the possibility of a Pantera reunion, Vinnie Paul said that it would be possible if Dimebag Darrell were still alive. Despite being proud of his Pantera years, however, he indicated that there were no plans for a reunion, adding that "some stones are better left unturned." On March 22, 2014, Pantera released a 20-year anniversary edition of Far Beyond Driven.

All songs were remastered, and as a bonus, they released a live recording of their 1994 Monsters of Rock performance.

Public comments made by Phil Anselmo following the shooting suggested that he had considered reuniting with the band prior to Dimebag Darrell's death. However, one year after the murder, Vinnie Paul stated in an interview that this reunion was never going to happen.

Comments about a potential one-off reunion concert resurfaced periodically, with Zakk Wylde often being suggested as the stand-in replacement for Dimebag Darrell. Vinnie Paul, however, had been strictly resistant to the idea. Despite several overtures towards reconciliation by Phil Anselmo towards Vinnie Paul, the two men remained permanently estranged.

In a July 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Phil Anselmo spoke out against Pantera and his other band's usage of the Confederate flag claiming it was a mistake to use it on their merchandise, albums and other promotional material. Phil Anselmo said "These days, I wouldn't want anything to fucking do with it because truthfully... I wouldn't. The way I feel and the group of people I've had to work with my whole life, you see a Confederate flag out there that says 'Heritage, not hate.' I'm not so sure I'm buying into that." Phil Anselmo said originally that Pantera used the image because they were huge fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd but it was never about promoting hate.

Also in 2015, Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown were interviewed at length about Pantera for the book Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990s, by author Greg Prato. Rex Brown also penned the foreword for the book, while a concert photo from 1994 of Phil Anselmo and Dimebag Darrell was used for the book's cover image.

On June 22, 2018, Vinnie Paul died at the age of 54, making him the second founding member of Pantera (following his brother) to die. Sources initially said that the cause of his death was a massive heart attack in his sleep, but on August 27, 2018, the official cause of death was revealed to be dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease.

In November 2018, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, while on tour supporting their second full-length album, played their first setlist composed entirely of Pantera songs. The trend continued all throughout the rest of the year as well as in 2019, with the tour being dubbed as "Pantera tribute".

On January 28, 2020, Pantera surpassed one billion streams across most major streaming music services (Amazon, Apple Music, Deezer, Google, and Spotify).

On July 13, 2022, Billboard reported that Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo were reuniting in 2023 for Pantera's first major tour in 22 years, and it was announced that they had signed with Artist Group International to book a North American tour. Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante were later announced as the respective fill-ins for Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. When asked in November 2022 by  Bravewords.com if Pantera were planning to record new material, Charlie Benante said,

"Oh man, who knows? Creatively, if we are just flowing and getting going, and things are starting to be really good, musically speaking, you never know what could happen. I've got tons of riffs." Sterling Winfield (who produced Reinventing the Steel) stated he would not "feel comfortable calling it Pantera", but added that the new lineup "could make some very badass music". He said, "I will say that it is entirely plausible, it is entirely possible, but at this point in time, I don't know that anybody's looking that far down the road. They've got a world tour to tackle, man, for the next two years, and they are gonna be busy doing that. Now, could it happen? Yes."

The new version of Pantera played their first shows in 21 years in Latin America in December 2022, co-headlining Mexico's Monterrey Metal Fest with Judas Priest, and also appearing at Hell & Heaven Metal Fest in Mexico and Knotfest in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. The band will then embark on their first full-scale tour of Europe since 2000 in May and June 2023, and support Metallica on selected North American dates of their 2023-2024 72 Seasons tour. Three shows into the band's December 2022 Latin America run, it was revealed Rex Brown had contracted Covid-19 and was replaced by bassist Derek Engemann (who plays with Phil Anselmo in Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals and Scour) for the remaining shows.

The band's concerts at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany and their concert Austria's capital Vienna in 2023 has been canceled following an outcry over singer Philip Anselmo's previous racist remarks and his showing of the Hitler salute at earlier events.

Pantera toured on Ozzfest as main stage acts twice; the band played at the second annual Ozzfest in 1997 and the fifth Ozzfest in 2000. Over the course of their career, Pantera's members became known for their excessive partying and debauchery, even acquiring an official drink called the "Black Tooth Grin". The "Black Tooth Grin" ("Black Tooth", "The Grin", or "BTG", alternatively), named after lyrics from  Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets", is a mixture of Crown Royal or Seagram 7 whisky (or both) and Coca-Cola.

Pantera also adopted a self-described "take no shit" attitude, epitomized in its song "5 Minutes Alone" from the album Far Beyond Driven. According to Vinnie Paul, the song originated when, during a show in San Diego, California, Phil Anselmo was annoyed by a heckler and encouraged the crowd to beat him up. Consequently, the band was sued by the father of the heckler who said he wanted "five minutes alone" with Phil Anselmo to prove who was the "big daddy", and Phil Anselmo responded that he would use those "five minutes alone" with the father to "whoop his ass."

Despite being a standard Glam metal band early in their career, the band members perceive themselves to have subsequently had an uncompromising career in which they never "sold out" or gave into trends. This is most noticeably highlighted in the themes and title of The Great Southern Trendkill. Anselmo said:

We've survived every fucking trend-Heavy metal, "Grunge metal", Funk metal, Rap metal-and we're still here. We put everyone on notice that we don't fuck around. Our fans know we're true right down to the fucking core.

Similarly, the die-hard attitude of "We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time" (from Reinventing the Steel) is, according to Anselmo, "in a way, our motto."

Aside from their post-glam, Thrash metal influences, the band members cite heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath as one of their favorite bands. As a tribute, Pantera has recorded three different covers of Black Sabbath songs (all from the Ozzy Osbourne era). The first was "Planet Caravan", a slower, quieter song planned for the first Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black, that eventually became the final track on  Far Beyond Driven. The band performed Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" on the second Nativity in Black. A previously unreleased cover of Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky" was included on the band's 2003 compilation album, The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! Pantera's affinity for Black Sabbath is also shown through the lyrics, "Your trust is in whiskey and weed and Black Sabbath", in "Goddamn Electric". The same song also mentions Slayer, one of the band's thrash metal influences.

However, some critics dispute any notion that Pantera imitated Exhorder's sound. Brian Davis, a contributor to Internet radio station KNAC, addresses the issue as follows:

Exhorder's main "claim to fame" is the common opinion that they're the band that Pantera stole their sound from. That's total bullshit. There are minor similarities in guitar style, and on occasion, vocalist Kyle Thomas spits out a line or scream that will bring Pantera to mind, but to go so far as to say that Pantera is an Exhorder clone is ludicrous.

Although originally decrying Pantera as a rip-off of their sound, Exhorder lead vocalist Kyle Thomas has stated that he does not care about any of the criticism and is sick of seeing Exhorder's name tied to Pantera's. He also stated that he and the members of Pantera were great friends who used to tour together, and that he mourns the loss of Dimebag Darrell. Guitarist Marzi Montazeri, however, who worked with Phil Anselmo on one of his solo projects, said that Phil Anselmo "ripped off" Thomas' vocal style, "'cause he was doing Rob Halford stuff back then, when he first joined Pantera. And when Cowboys came, he wanted to be in Exhorder so bad, he went back and said, "We're gonna sound like these guys." And he took it, simplified it, and became the biggest band in the world. But the formula was that."