Almost every band of note and that had an adequate budget would try to get one of them to at least mix their album. I have to say, he did an unbelievable job. The time between was somewhat of a golden era for Metal production in my opinion. The record industry had not yet collapsed, and there were still big budgets. Bands were still recording on tape, and there were still a wide variety of production styles present in heavy music.
So, if everything was so awesome for that period, why is the title of this piece, what about that original question: Did Pantera ruin modern Metal album production? First, the dramatic impact of illegal downloading and file sharing had finally hit the Metal world. This caused labels to tighten the bootstraps on recording budgets, making it more difficult for bands to be able to afford the Colin Richardsons and Andy Sneaps of the world.
This also made it more difficult just to be able to put bands in bigger studios, for longer periods of time, giving them the leeway to experiment or possibly track to tape, if they wanted. Secondly, the emergence of cheaper and higher quality digital recording equipment and software allowed musicians to side step the traditional studio system, and produce records on their own. Thirdly, and although this is difficult to prove, I believe that Metal bands began to become less creative in how they wanted their albums to be presented.
Instead of wanted to sound like themselves, they would go to a specific producer and ask them to make them sound like another band the producer had worked with. At this juncture, I could insert a few YouTube links to bands and records that I think are emblematic of where we are at, or at least how things have evolved with regard to Metal production. My overall point is that what once was a unique and singular sonic vision by a band called Pantera became in many ways, the default sound for Metal.
Kick drums are click-y. The guitars are scooped out and have buzz saw crunch. The bass guitar just gets buried or has to find a place in higher registers. I could write an entire article on how Phil Anselmo is most influential heavy singer of the last 20 years. So many people are using the same software and plugins, the same amp modelers, the same drum samples.
We have to make an effort to make records that have character. I applaud bands like Mastodon and In Flames for deciding to make different sounding albums from their peers and the status quo. Did Pantera ruin modern Metal album production? In truth, the fact that Pantera were a glam band only adds to their legend. It shows that for all their muscular angst, they were also a band willing to progress, who were excited about metal since its infancy. While millionaires like Axl Rose and Tommy Lee were making music about banging models and swimming with dolphins, these dudes from Arlington wrote huge, primal anthems to ditch weed and disillusionment.
When Power Metal was released thirty-one years ago, the band was still looking pretty poofy, but at least they were wearing black. Also, man, how confused does Vinnie Paul look? Pantera was growing up at the same time that metal was; that they wrote jaunty songs about being a cat-eyed urban warrior-poet just means they were all-in from the very beginning. But then, Pantera did something more bands needed to: they grew up. They incorporated new influences, got turned on to bands like Metallica and Exhorder, and decided to ditch the window dressing.
Even when it looked like they were out of control, they had this focus. They gave everything to their fans. That, and being innovators and taking that style of music to a different level and in a different direction by adding that groove. The usual path for a newly successful rock band to take is to veer into more commercial territory. Pantera were never going to do that. In an era when metal was supposed to be struggling, the Texans were proudly scaring the shit out of the mainstream.
But Pantera carried the torch for metal all through the 90s. They were riding high on the back of Vulgar… and then Far Beyond Driven came out. They entered the charts at Number One having physically sold more than anyone else in the country.
To do it with a record as extreme as that was completely unheard of. Although Pantera would never again scale the commercial heights of Far Beyond Driven , their status as the metal band of the 90s was beyond dispute when the decade drew to a close. Like Sabbath, Priest, Maiden and Metallica before them, Pantera made music that transcended scenes and genres by simply being the real goddamn deal. They could do everything and the only thing linking it all together was them.
I feel lucky to have known them and to have played a little part in their lives.
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