An all-time metal legend was born today in New Orleans in 1968. Phillip H. Anselmo was frontman for the classic lineup of Pantera and founded other bands including Down and Superjoint Ritual. Throughout his career he has had an equal talent for attracting both talent to surround him and trouble that has followed him. As far as his own talent for singing goes, it is virtually unmatched in the world of metal.
Anselmo joined Pantera in 1987 as the band was beginning to emerge from their glam metal phase. While he did record one pretty terrible record with Pantera in 1988, the poorly named "Power Metal", everything they did after that was gold, or more likely platinum. In 1990 Pantera shook metal's foundations with the release of "Cowboys From Hell" and they never looked back. Thrash metal was de rigueur in 1990 and "Cowboys" was anything but thrash. Pantera's rhythm section had a swing and groove that was absent in thrash, they had a once in a generation talent on guitar, and Phil's powerful voice leading the way. The follow up album released in 1992, "Vulgar Display of Power", established Pantera as the unequivocal standard bearer for metal in the 1990s. The band released five albums with Anselmo, with four of them going at least platinum, one album "Far Beyond Driven" reaching #1, and two albums charting at #4.
As Pantera's fame skyrocketed so did Anselmo's drug use, notably heroin. Overdoses came and went, tensions in the band began to rise, and ultimately Pantera would disband in 2001. The acrimony between former bandmates played out in the press and divided fans as much as it did the band. Anselmo said a lot of dumb things and rightly earned the ire of the general public. Both parties moved on with Anselmo increasing the time he spent with longtime side projects Superjoint Ritual and Down.
Superjoint was an interesting band, eventually counting among its members Hank Williams' grandson, Hank Williams III. A blend of the groove metal Phil brought with him from Pantera plus a pinch of thrash and a dash of punk. Superjoint never came close to Pantera's popularity nor that of Down.
Down, a supergroup in their own right with Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity), Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), Pat Bruders (Goatwhore), and Jimmy Bower (Superjoint, Crowbar, Eyehategod) on the roster, mixed that familiar groove with some Southern hard rock sensibilities. Down released three albums between 1995 and 2007 with all three of them reaching the top-60 on the album chart.
Anselmo has hardly slowed down since his heydays with Pantera and Down. He has explored different metal genres and started a number of minor bands, including Arson Anthem, Christ Inversion, Southern Isolation, Viking Crown, and Phillip H. Anselmo and The Illegals. He has been in high demand for guest spots on songs, performing with the likes of Tony Iommi, Cattle Decapitation, Anal Cunt, Dave Grohl, Robert Trujillo, Dave Lombardo, and Duff McKagan. Anselmo currently owns the Housecore Records label and is doing his damnedest to keep metal alive.
Anselmo is many different things to different people but one thing that is indisputable is that he is a lifer for metal music.
