"Cemetery Gates" | ||||
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Single by Pantera | ||||
from the album Cowboys from Hell | ||||
Released |
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Recorded | 1989–1990 | |||
Genre | Thrash metal | |||
Length | 7:02 | |||
Label | Atco | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Terry Date | |||
Pantera singles chronology | ||||
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"Cemetery Gates" is a power ballad [1] by American heavy metal band Pantera. The song is the fifth track from the 1990 album Cowboys from Hell , the band's fifth record and second with lead singer Phil Anselmo. The song, the longest in Pantera's discography, showcases Anselmo's vocal ability and range, concluding with screaming high notes answered by Dimebag Darrell on guitar in a trade-off.
The lyrics lament the death of a female lover and the prospect of dying or committing suicide and rejoining her in the afterlife.
Phil Anselmo has credited numerous inspirations for the song. He stated in an interview in 1991 that the song was written about his good friends that had committed suicide. He also stated in a Ustream.tv live Q&A that "there was a friend who had died in NOLA and it had a real heavy impact within my group of friends. When I wrote the lyrics I did not want them to be too personal, because that can be cheesy. I also had to make sure that the lyrics would not take away from the song, because that was one of our best songs." [2]
"Cemetery Gates" was the second single released by the band off their Cowboys from Hell album. It received a large amount of airplay by rock stations and has become one of Pantera's most popular songs. Guitar World magazine readers voted the song's solo the 35th-greatest of all time, which was Dimebag's second-highest ranking solo (after "Floods"). [3] A live version of the song from Official Live: 101 Proof was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998.
Metal Hammer considered "Cemetery Gates" to be the best Pantera song, writing that it is one of the greatest epic ballads in metal history, and that it is "etched into the hearts and minds of metalheads everywhere". [4]
A shorter version of "Cemetery Gates" without its acoustic beginning was released into a music video. A shortened, 5:47-second version without the conclusion was included on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight . Pantera's live album, Official Live: 101 Proof , includes a six-and-a-half-minute rendition of the song.
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [5] | 99 |
US Rock Tracks Top 60 ( Radio & Records ) [6] | 48 |
Pantera is an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas, formed in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-known lineup consisted of the Abbott brothers along with Brown and Anselmo, who joined in 1982 and 1986 respectively. The band is credited for developing and popularizing the subgenre of groove metal in the 1990s. Regarded as one of the most successful and influential bands in heavy metal history, Pantera has sold around 20 million records worldwide and has received four Grammy nominations.
Cowboys from Hell is the fifth studio album and major label debut by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990, by Atco Records. It marked the first of many collaborations with producer Terry Date. This was also the album where Pantera fully abandoned the glam metal style of their previous albums in favor of a heavier sound. It has been recognized as one of the first ever groove metal albums.
Vulgar Display of Power is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera. Released on February 25, 1992, through Atco Records, it was the band's second collaboration with producer Terry Date, after having worked with him on their breakthrough album Cowboys from Hell (1990).
Darrell Lance Abbott, best known by his stage name Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time.
Philip Hansen Anselmo is an American heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer for Pantera, Down, and Superjoint, amongst other musical projects. He is the owner of Housecore Records.
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