Pantera’s story begins in Arlington, Texas, in the early ’80s, at a time when American metal was just coming to fruition in the form of California thrash-metal bands like Metallica and Slayer and New Yorkers like Anthrax. It was an era when traditional heavy music bands were banished to the underground by labels, press, and the industry... unless they were playing a new kind of metal.

When everyone said metal was dead in the mid-’90s, Pantera was selling tons of records and concert tickets. They were the mainstream bridge from the old-school metal to the new school we have seen grow the last ten years. Influencing subgenres like nu-metal, groove metal, metalcore, and grindcore, Pantera was an inspiration to musicians trying to hang in and survive the roughest decade in real metal music.

Reinventing Metal: The True Story Of Pantera And The Tragically Short Life Of Dimebag Darrell by Neil Daniels is the first biography of one of the most original, uncompromising, and influential bands in metal history. Daniels conducted many interviews with those who knew the group well to get the full story of the band, focusing on all of the members and covering their Texas high school start all the way through their global mega-success and eventual break-up.

Their story is a tragic and complicated one, not only because of the murder of guitarist Dimebag Darrell in 2004, but also because of the bad blood and hostility that continues between the three surviving members. Pantera really were a unique band, innovative and dangerous. Reinventing Metal will tell you why.

Now available on paperback, and as an eBook. More info at this location.