Is it Time to Put a Vulgar Display of Flowers at Pantera’s Grave?

21 May 2003

Pantera band members don’t have any plans of working together in the near future says Philip Anselmo, the band’s frontman, though their group has not been officially disbanded.

According to him, “If five or 10 years down the way, [everyone] wants to get together and do more Pantera music, then we’ll see. Of course, it would take some soul searching from all of us”.

The Reinventing the Steel in 2000 is the final studio album of Pantera. Anselmo announced in public last year, following the release of Down II, that before the year ends, the band will come back to the studio; however, it never happens.

Anselmo said, “I think each and every one of us needs to get some other pieces of music out of their systems. And I think that some of us need to take some time for ourselves to get on with life again instead of reliving the past over and over and over”.

Though no member feels expressively prepared to revisit the band, Anselmo explained that they (he and then his ex-bandmates) are in good speaking terms.

“They’re looking for a new Pantera record. And I guess they just don’t understand English. If you’re not happy in a situation – which none of us were at the time – you take time off and you let the air clear.”

The frontman, however, still has warmhearted memories to treasure in spite of his frustration. Regardless of how much fads come and go, fans of Pantera remain endlessly devoted, of which Anselmo is especially proud of.