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.
Zachary Phillip Wylde is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy metal band Black Label Society.
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.
Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The pair recruited former Diesel Machine and Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman on vocals, and later Bob Zilla on bass. Damageplan released New Found Power, their only album, on February 10, 2004. New Found Power debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200, selling 44,676 copies in its first week.
Superstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a Fender Stratocaster but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style. Differences typically include more pointed, aggressive-looking body and neck shapes with increased cutaways to facilitate access to the higher frets, an increased number of frets on the fingerboard, a contoured heel at the neck joint facilitating easier higher fret access, the usage of humbucking pickups, and locking vibrato systems, most commonly the Floyd Rose.
Vincent Paul Abbott was an American musician best known for being the drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Pantera. He also co-founded Damageplan in 2003 with his younger brother, 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott, and was a member of Hellyeah for 12 years from 2006 until his death in 2018.
New Found Power is the only studio album released by the American heavy metal supergroup Damageplan. The group was formed by brothers "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott (guitar) and "Vinnie Paul" Abbott (drums) after the breakup of their previous band, Pantera. This is the final album that was released during Darrell's lifetime, before his death less than 10 months after the release.
Metal Magic is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on June 10, 1983 by Metal Magic Records. Like the band's next three releases, it is musically oriented toward a glam/heavy metal sound influenced by Kiss and Van Halen, rather than the groove metal style they became famous for playing in the 1990s. The album was released on the band's own label and produced by Jerry Abbott, a noted country music songwriter and producer, and father of "Diamond" Darrell and Vince Abbott, who were 16 and 19 years old, respectively, at the time of release.
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar model by Gibson guitars, released in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Flying V, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed in 1957 but not released until 1982. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design that, years later, Gibson marketed under the name Futura.
"In This River" is a song by American heavy metal band Black Label Society, a power ballad featured on their 2005 sixth studio album Mafia. Performed entirely by guitarist, vocalist and pianist Zakk Wylde, it was released as the third single from the album and reached number 32 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Matthew Kiichi Heafy is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof. In 2017, Heafy was voted sixth on the Ultimate Guitar list "Top 25 Greatest Modern Frontmen".
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation.
The Frankenstrat, also known as "Frankie", is a guitar created by Eddie Van Halen. Its name is a portmanteau of Frankenstein, the fictional doctor who created a monster by combining body parts of the recently deceased, and the Stratocaster, a model of electric guitar made by Fender.
Corey King Beaulieu is an American guitarist who is a member of heavy metal band Trivium. At live shows, he also performs backing and, sometimes, lead screaming vocals.
The star is a body shape of solid body electric guitar, particularly favoured for heavy metal music. It blends some features of the Gibson Flying V and Gibson Explorer, both of them much older designs.
The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.
The Razorback V is an electric guitar designed by Dimebag Darrell shortly before his death in December 2004. It is a more aggressive looking version of the Dean V, and similar to the Dean Razorback. Corey Beaulieu of Trivium is known for using this guitar It is the more pointy version of the Dean Guitar headstock and the body is an enlarged reversed image of the head. There is also a bass guitar version of the Razorback V shape.
The Dean ML is an electric guitar made by Dean Guitars in 1977 along with its counterparts, the Dean V, Dean Cadillac and Dean Z. It has an unusual design, with a V-shaped headstock and V-shaped tailpiece. It was popularized by the guitarist Dimebag Darrell of Pantera.
Dean B. Zelinsky, also known as Dean Z, Dean Barrett Zelinsky or DBZ, is an American guitar luthier who founded Dean Guitars in 1977 and DBZ Guitars in 2008 and today owns Dean Zelinsky Private Label started in 2012.
On December 8, 2004, four people were murdered and three others were wounded in a mass shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main target of the attack was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was on stage performing with his band Damageplan at the time of the shooting. Three minutes after opening fire, the perpetrator, 25-year-old Nathan Gale, was shot and killed by police officer James Niggemeyer.
