Biography
While most leading hard rock guitarists of the early 1990s emphasized songcraft over rapid soloing, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell stood apart as a notable exception. Born Darrell Lance Abbott on August 20, 1966 in Dallas, Texas, he grew up in a musical household; his father, Jerry Abbott, worked as a country & western songwriter and producer. Exposure to Kiss and their guitarist Ace Frehley soon steered Darrell toward hard rock and heavy metal. He began entering local guitar competitions and won a Dean ML, the instrument with which he would later become closely identified. By the early 1980s, performing under the name Diamond Darrell, he joined his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, and bassist Rex Smith (then billed as Rex Rocker) to form Pantera. At that stage the band drew heavily from Def Leppard, Judas Priest, and the visual style of Mötley Crüe. With Terry Glaze as singer, Pantera released three albums the group would later disown—1983's Metal Magic, 1984's Projects in the Jungle, and 1985's I Am the Night—before Glaze departed.
Phil Anselmo replaced Glaze, yet the new lineup required time to gel; their initial collaboration, 1988's Power Metal, pointed in a promising direction without reaching the intensity the band would achieve. Still unsigned to a major label, Pantera secured a deal in 1990 with the Atlantic subsidiary East West. Almost immediately the group abandoned its earlier pop-metal approach for a heavier, more aggressive sound shaped by Slayer, Metallica, and Black Sabbath. The change produced a run of landmark releases that elevated Pantera to worldwide prominence: 1990's Cowboys From Hell, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power, and 1994's Far Beyond Driven. By then performing as Dimebag Darrell, the guitarist earned consistent recognition in guitar-magazine polls as one of metal's elite players. Additional Pantera albums appeared into the early 2000s before the band entered a hiatus, prompting Darrell and Vinnie Paul to form Damageplan. Darrell also contributed to recordings by Anthrax (Stomp 442, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real, and We've Come for You All) and Nickelback (The Long Road), supplied music for the Supercop soundtrack, and recorded a cover of Ace Frehley's "Fractured Mirror" for the tribute album Spacewalk: A Salute to Ace Frehley. He and his brother further collaborated with cult country artist David Allan Coe on the album Rebel Meets Rebel. On December 8, 2004, at age 38, Darrell was fatally shot onstage by a concertgoer in Columbus, Ohio, while performing with Damageplan. The music community mourned the sudden loss of one of modern metal's most influential stylists.
Phil Anselmo replaced Glaze, yet the new lineup required time to gel; their initial collaboration, 1988's Power Metal, pointed in a promising direction without reaching the intensity the band would achieve. Still unsigned to a major label, Pantera secured a deal in 1990 with the Atlantic subsidiary East West. Almost immediately the group abandoned its earlier pop-metal approach for a heavier, more aggressive sound shaped by Slayer, Metallica, and Black Sabbath. The change produced a run of landmark releases that elevated Pantera to worldwide prominence: 1990's Cowboys From Hell, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power, and 1994's Far Beyond Driven. By then performing as Dimebag Darrell, the guitarist earned consistent recognition in guitar-magazine polls as one of metal's elite players. Additional Pantera albums appeared into the early 2000s before the band entered a hiatus, prompting Darrell and Vinnie Paul to form Damageplan. Darrell also contributed to recordings by Anthrax (Stomp 442, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real, and We've Come for You All) and Nickelback (The Long Road), supplied music for the Supercop soundtrack, and recorded a cover of Ace Frehley's "Fractured Mirror" for the tribute album Spacewalk: A Salute to Ace Frehley. He and his brother further collaborated with cult country artist David Allan Coe on the album Rebel Meets Rebel. On December 8, 2004, at age 38, Darrell was fatally shot onstage by a concertgoer in Columbus, Ohio, while performing with Damageplan. The music community mourned the sudden loss of one of modern metal's most influential stylists.
Albums
