Rock Confidential has issued a new interview with DOWN / ex-PANTERA frontman Phil Anselmo, in which he discusses the 20th Anniversary Edition of Pantera's Cowboys From Hell. The following is an excerpt:

Q: Cowboys From Hell really introduced Pantera to the world. It kicked in everybody’s teeth and also introduced fans to a new style of raw, heavy metal. Your vocals and Dime’s guitar tone is what created this huge sound. How much time did you guys spend working on your vocals and Dime’s tone?

A: "It’s kinda funny. I can’t answer this without pre-dating what went on. I joined this band in late ’87. Things got rollin’ in ’88. Out of nowhere it seemed like I was in the studio recording Power Metal. We agreed the first time we ever talked that we wanted to move into a more aggressive direction. We were growing. I was turning them on to all kinds of heavy shit. We wrote the stuff for Cowboys From Hell in ’88 and ’89. We’d been gigging around playing a lot of those songs live. Mentally and musically we were heading in this more extreme direction. Dimebag always had this ripping, roaring guitar sound. Back in the late eighties, production on metal records was changing drastically. There was no ProTools or fucking computers to mess around with. It was all real. When Terry Date came on board as a producer, he made it a lot easier for us to basically take that amp sound and move it from one room and put it on tape in another room. It was always Dimebag’s guitar sound and we spent a lot of time tweaking it to make it rippin’. He always had this monstrous tone but capturing it back then was really tough. We came damn close on Cowboys… Eventually our sound took it’s most pure form on Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven later on. It was a signature sound but still a developmental record.

As far as my vocals are concerned, I was always capable… I grew up a metal kid who loved hardcore. I was always the youngest guy in my band. All these guys were playing in clubs where A) you had to dress up kinda glammy to get the gig and B) you wanted to play the bigger shows with the more professional guys, so JUDSA PRIEST and DIO was pretty much demanded. I took that on, man. I was very young when I got hold of that type of singing. I’d come home from high school – before I quit – and I’d sing fuckin’ Unleashed In The East, man. Front to back, every fucking day. Before I’d even go to practice! To have that kind of range was always a plus. If I could still sing like that it would be great. I can still sing but I don’t know about all that high, higher range shit. I never used falsetto. I was always singing full-out. I see what you mean when you say we had that rawness, like a classic metal band. The vocals had that rough edge but could also tastefully touch on metal greats from the past. Those were very transitional years. I do see what you mean about capturing that dual magic, though. I hope that wasn’t too fucking confusing. God damn!" (laughs)

Q: You mentioned recording Cowboys… before ProTools came along. I think the extra grunt work you guys put in to create the guitar tone and capture those sounds is what makes that record so defining for Pantera and for metal. Bands don’t understand what it’s like to do work like that in the studio these days.

A: "I agree, man. To get organic fuckin’ sounds, even drum sounds – Vinnie Paul’s drum sound. You gotta look at that. He triggered the livin’ fuck out of everything. People may say that’s cheatin’. Fact is, he was playing every fuckin’ bit of it. He made a generation thereafter want to trigger the livin’ fuck out of their drum sets! (laughs) I can’t leave Vince out of this equation at all. He’s great in the studio, too.

As far as coming up with those sounds, like you said – it was grunt work. We did a lot of ground-laying from the fucking dirt to the middle of your chest. I remember us beating our heads against the wall. Especially Dime and Terry Date. Everybody was just trying to make this guitar sound roar. It wasn’t perfect on Cowboys From Hell but it was prevalent enough."

Read the full interview at this location.

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Cowboys From Hell is currently streaming in its entirety on AOL's Full CD Listening Party at this location.

The Deluxe and Expanded editions of Pantera's Cowboys From Hell are out today - September 14th - at all retail outlets, including Pantera.com and Rhino.com.

Check out a 20th Anniversary Edition of Cowboys From Hell widget below:

Pantera found its growl and groove on Cowboys From Hell, a landmark album whose bone-powdering intensity, razor-sharp riffing and pummeling rhythmic assault represented a turning point in modern metal when it was released in 1990. More than just Pantera's major label debut, many consider this album to be the official debut of the Pantera lineup with singer Philip Anselmo, guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex Brown.

To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Cowboys From Hell, Rhino rounds up a three-disc Ultimate Edition, a three-disc Deluxe Edition, and a two-disc Expanded Edition. All three editions include a newly remastered version of the original album along with unreleased and rare live performances from the Cowboys From Hell tour. The Ultimate and Deluxe editions will also feature a disc of unreleased demos for nearly every album track, plus, 'The Will To Survive', a previously unreleased song recorded during the album's sessions.

"'The Will To Survive' is a great track. With so many killer songs, it was hard to pick and choose the ones that should make our major label debut," says Vinnie Paul. "After hearing it for the first time in about 20 years, it's a pretty stellar performance and I am definitely proud that it will see the light of day for all the die-hard Pantera fans around the world! It shows the true musical diversity of the band at that time!"

The Ultimate Edition will feature all three discs included in the Deluxe Edition and will be housed in an intricate box including several replica memorabilia pieces from the Cowboys era. The Ultimate Edition will be available on November 22 and final pre-order details, as well as the contents, will be unveiled soon on Pantera's Facebook page.

Along with the remastered version of Cowboys From Hell, all three sets include a disc of live music recorded during the tour for the album. It begins with seven unreleased performances from Pantera's September 15, 1990 appearance at the Foundations Forum metal convention in California, a show recorded for radio broadcast but never released commercially. The remainder of the disc contains the five-song EP Alive And Hostile, a collection of performances recorded in 1991 at the Monsters of Rock festival in Moscow that was previously available only in Australia as part of a 1994 boxed set.

The Ultimate and Deluxe editions of Cowboys From Hell include a third disc that contains the previously unreleased 'The Will To Survive', along with demos for ten of the album's 12 songs, including early versions of the title track 'Psycho Holiday', 'The Art Of Shredding' and 'Cemetery Gates'.

After being turned down "twenty-eight times by every major label on the face of the earth," ATCO Records A&R; rep Mark Ross saw the band when Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. The rest, as they say, is history, including another seven years and over a million miles of touring for Cowboys to be certified platinum (one million album sales) by the RIAA.

The album's liner notes include essays by each of the band's surviving members, producer Terry Date, and the aforementioned Ross. Recalling the first time he saw Pantera, Ross writes, "By the end of the first song, my jaw was on the floor. The sonic power of it all - the attitude and the musicianship - blew me away. Basically, you had to be an idiot to not think they're amazing. I mean, how could you see these guys and not think, holy shit!?"

Cowboys From Hell 20th anniversary reissue tracklisting:

Disc One - Ultimate, Deluxe, and Expanded Editions

'Cowboys From Hell'

'Primal Concrete Sledge'

'Psycho Holiday'

'Heresy'

'Cemetery Gates'

'Domination'

'Shattered'

'Clash With Reality'

'Medicine Man'

'Message In Blood'

'The Sleep'

'The Art Of Shredding'

Disc Two - Ultimate, Deluxe, and Expanded Editions

'Domination' (live) *

'Psycho Holiday' (live) *

'The Art Of Shredding' (live) *

'Cowboys From Hell' (live) *

'Cemetery Gates' (live) *

'Primal Concrete Sledge' (live) *

'Heresy' (live) *

'Domination' (live, Alive And Hostile EP) +

'Primal Concrete Sledge' (live, Alive And Hostile EP) +

'Cowboys From Hell' (live, Alive And Hostile EP) +

'Heresy' (live, Alive And Hostile EP) +

'Psycho Holiday' (live, Alive And Hostile EP) +

Disc Three - Ultimate and Deluxe Editions Only

'The Will To Survive' *

'Shattered' (demo) *

'Cowboys From Hell' (demo) *

'Heresy' (demo) *

'Cemetery Gates' (demo) *

'Psycho Holiday' (demo) *

'Medicine Man' (demo) *

'Message In Blood' (demo) *

'Domination' (demo) *

'The Sleep' (demo) *

'The Art Of Shredding' (demo) *

* Previously unreleased

+ Unreleased in North America

The Ultimate Edition box includes custom artwork and a 60-page booklet with rare photos, expanded liner notes and replicas from the Cowboys era as listed below.

- New Years Puke Party T-shirt – designed by Dimebag Darrell (XL)
- ‘We're Takin’ Over This Town’ flyer reproduction (8 1/2" x 11")
- ‘It's Up To You/Censorship’ flyer reproduction (8 1/2" x 11")
- Arcadio Theatre poster reproduction (11" x 17")
- Cowboys From Hell Fucking Hostile button
- ‘All Access Tour Pass '90’ Fabric Sticker
- Cowboys From Hell Texas Guest Laminated Pass
- ‘U.S. Tour '91’ All Access Laminated Pass
- Ticket reproduction, June 14, 1991