Pantera members share insights on new official photo book by Ross Halfin

Rufus Publications has announced that Ross Halfin’s brand-new, completely approved Pantera coffee table book is currently shipping and available for purchase here. Below is a new video featuring the band discussing the book. Ross has had free access to the band on tour, backstage, on days off, and, of course, during incredible performances throughout the past few years. In order to create a unique and frequently unseen look at one of the most renowned metal bands in the world, Ross has dug into his vast Pantera archive, which includes breathtaking photos of the original four, including “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and Vinnie Paul Abbott. This new, fully authorized book captures the current lineup in all its glory. This is the unadulterated Pantera.

With almost 300 pages, this enormous A3 portrait coffee table book lets the pictures breathe in a special way. The edition comes in a unique diamond plate-style embossed slipcase. There are only 666 numbered copies of the book available, and each one is personally autographed by the current touring lineup of Pantera, which consists of guitarist Zakk Wylde, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Rex Brown, and vocalist Philip Anselmo.

The Abbott brothers, guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul, founded the American heavy metal group Pantera in Arlington, Texas, in 1981. Today, the band is made up of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The Abbott brothers, along with Brown and Anselmo, who joined in 1982 and 1986, respectively, made up the group’s most well-known lineup. In the 1990s, the band is credited with creating and popularising the groove metal subgenre. Pantera, which has sold about 20 million records worldwide and been nominated for four Grammy Awards, is regarded as one of the most popular and influential bands in heavy metal history.

With lead singer Terry Glaze, Pantera—which began as a glam metal band—released three unsuccessful albums in the mid-1980s: “Metal Magic”, “Projects in the Jungle”, and “I Am the Night”. Pantera signed Anselmo in 1986 in search of a new, stronger sound, and they released “Power Metal” in 1988. The next year, they signed a record contract with major label Atco. The groove metal genre was popularised by their fifth album, “Cowboys from Hell” (1990), which the band has subsequently considered to be their formal debut album. Their subsequent album, “Vulgar Display of Power” (1992), acquired an even heavier sound and boosted their reputation. “Far Beyond Driven” (1994), the seventh studio album that followed, made its Billboard 200 debut at number one.

When Anselmo started to distance himself from his bandmates in 1995 due to severe back problems brought on by years of intense on-stage performances and eventually developed a heroin addiction as a result of his pain issues (he nearly died from an overdose in July 1996), tensions among the band members started to surface.