10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs Of The 1990s

The early '90s seemed like a virtual dead zone for metal once the alternative scene came and hit. Long before Korn came a revitalized the scene with their debut, the thrash scene was still trying to figure out how to adjust and hair metal was firmly stomped into the ground. In between the heavy stuff though, Pantera towered across the land off the strength of Cowboys From Hell.

Even though metal was seen as passe around this time, Pantera's approach to the whole thing felt like a breath of fresh air. In contrast to the thrash metal bands from around the same time, Pantera had the same amount of aggression but with a fine attention to rhythm in the way the songs were constructed. When you listen to the way that Vinnie Paul locks in with his brother Dimebag Darrell on these riffs, you'll hear a lot of similarities to something like Texas swing than your traditional metal music.

This also introduced the world to the amazing growl of Phil Anselmo, who sounds like he's about to tear you to pieces, is being tortured by someone, or somehow both at the exact same time. While metal may have still been around during the '90s, Pantera was the one band that singlehandedly saved it from obscurity for a little while.