PHILIP ANSELMO On His Upcoming Autobiography: 'It's Not Just A PANTERA Book'

Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, ARSON ANTHEM, SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and BloodyDisgusting.com writer Corey Mitchell recently secured a deal with Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, senior editor at Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books imprint, for Anselmo's autobiography, which will tentatively be titled "Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride - Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life". Corey will co-author the book, which is described as "a no-holds-barred look inside of Philip's brain, his history with PANTERA, the loss of his best-friend, Dimebag Darrell, and an unflinching examination into the downward spiral of pain and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life." A 2014 release is expected.

Speaking to AOL's Noisecreep, Anselmo was very clear to what that book is and isn't. "It's not just a PANTERA book," he stated pointedly. "Of course, PANTERA was a gigantic part of my life but during my tenure with PANTERA, I was making a lot of different music with a lot of different bands. It's also a book that deals with the human experience."

He continued, "There was a point in time where I had a pretty goddamn unbattered skeleton when I was younger and there was a Superman-type feeling. I definitely take a look at the psychology of when you really hurt yourself and you have an MRI done and it's a proven fact that there is a chronic pain type of problem — what it did to me. Going down the drain and coming out of it as well. There's a bit of success to this story — as a matter of fact, a great deal of success."

Asked what it felt like when Anselmo drove away the worst of his demons, he said, "There is a euphoria when you finally have that monkey off your back and you know in your heart that you are not going to return. There is no open door. There are no cracked doors. You have a sealed, closed, welded door shut in your mind. It's like oxygen hitting your brain for the first time. If there's a religious feeling, a spiritual feeling, that's it. There's a common phenomenon for people who come out of a dark, dark place they are going to have an overexcitement — heck yeah, I was guilty of it."

He added, "You overstep your bounds in thinking you can help people at the time because your methodology worked you can help people who are suffering at the time, whether it be through addiction, some sort of pain. A good dose of physical rehabilitation that if you embrace it could help you out a lot. I was guilty of perhaps pushing my ideas on other people instead of stepping back and surmising where their heads are at before opening my mouth. Of course, there's no guilt about me saying 'Hey, life can be better.' But, I was fanatical to say the least as far as chasing people down saying 'Man, you can change your life. If I can do it, you can do it.' But all that subsides after a success rate of 15 to 75% You cannot save the world, all you can do is pass along the word."

Anselmo's former PANTERA and DOWN bandmate Rex Brown last year signed a deal with Da Capo Press to write a memoir. Due in 2013, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera" is described as a "starkly honest and revealing" book about Rex's time in one of the most influential and enduringly popular bands in heavy metal history, offering Brown's shocking personal insight into a band that had swapped the grimy clubs of Texas for arenas around the world but whose story would ultimately be touched by tragedy.