10 Rock Guitarists That Are Impossible To Duplicate
7. Dimebag Darrell - Pantera
At the turn of the '90s, metal was about to go through one of the rougher patches in its legacy. Though things started off ok with Metallica and Megadeth putting out two of the most successful albums of their respective careers, the new slew of alternative rock bands left most of your average metal acts in the dust. While some tried to change with the times, Pantera made it to the other side by getting even heavier.
Though the metallic sound of Cowboys From Hell is definitely a group effort, the magic always comes back to Dimebag Darrell, who had a knack for coming up with some of the heaviest riffs known to man. Having a much more eclectic background than his predecessors, you can hear Dime really stretching his knowledge of music in some of his solos, combining the sounds of gypsy jazz on the solo to Cowboys to a song like Strength Beyond Strength, with a guitar that's so heavy that it practically feels like it's going to rip through the speakers and punch you in the face.
If you want to be pedantic though, a lot of people come back to Dime's guitar tone, which has been called one of the best bad guitar tones in the history of metal. Then again, so what if the production of his rig sounds shaky from time to time? The real tone comes through in the player...not the amp.