Previously Unreleased Pantera Track Surfaces "The Will To Survive"

Pantera is working on some deluxe edition albums and has apparently dug up a bunch of old unreleased tracks. "The Will To Survive" comes from the Cowboys From Hell sessions and it's fucking awesome! You can stream it on Facebook (link below).

It's obvious why they cut it though. Pantera was in the middle of a makeover during the CFH days. They wanted to ditch their roots as a high pitch, glam metal band (yes, they were totally glam at one point) and establish themselves amongst the whiskey drinking, tattoo'd maniac bands like Slayer. They succeeded a thousandfold at this, mostly by ditching tunes like "The Will To Survive". But that doesn't mean the songs weren't totally bad ass. In fact this track has the heaviness of a CFH track but with the vocal style of their earlier stuff, which overall gives it an almost Iron Maiden / Judas Priest type of feel.

Pay close attention and you'll even hear the riff from "This Love" in there!

Link: 

Pantera Facebook Page Streaming Track

via The Gauntlet

Duff's Moved. Dimebag Tribute On Saturday

I found out a couple weeks ago that the best metal bar in NYC, Duff's, was moving. What I didn't realize was that it happened this past weekend. While it's a bit of a bummer they left the old N. 3rd spot it's kinda fucking awesome that they moved pretty close to where I live! Now I can go drink cheap booze and listen to Pantera whenever I want (and not be alone). The new Duff's is located at 168 Marcy, near Broadway.

While we're on the topic of Pantera Duff's will be hosting a Dimebag tribute party on Saturday. Let's not forget one of the best guitar players, and all around good dudes, in metal history. Of course, I'll be at a fucking wedding in Jersey but have a Blacktooth shot for me.

The '90's Video Assault, Episode 2: DOWN

Great, great song by the all-star metal band Down (members of Pantera, COC, Eyehategod, and Crowbar). The funny thing is that this sounds a lot more like Skynryd then Pantera. Finally a band teenage metal heads in 1995 could enjoy with their old man. Sadly the next album wasn't nearly as good, or "southern" sounding, but NOLA is a classic and this is the song that introduced Southern Metal.

Another Super Group: HellYeah

Haven't we learned our lesson already with this shit? Super groups DO NOT work and this one is no exception. The band is called HellYeah (horrible name) and it features Vinny Paul from Pantera, two dudes from Mudvayne, and two dudes from Nothingface. I can't stand Mudvayne but I love Pantera and Nothingface. But HellYeah kinda fucking sucks, it has that weird generic feel that all super groups seem to have. Anyway listen for yourself and get back to me...

Link:
HellYeah on MySpace

If you actually fig this crap then you're in luck, the album hits stores today.