PHILIP ANSELMO Talks PANTERA, DOWN And Upcoming Solo Album

May 19, 2012

ARTISTdirect.com's editor-in-chief Rick Florino recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: Did you have a favorite riff or solo from [PANTERA's] "Vulgar Display Of Power"?

Anselmo: Well, there's always a soft spot in my heart for the main riff in "A New Level" because it's so fucking crushing. Guitar solos…I really like them all. I'm not going to lie. Darrell was a fantastic guitar player. The solo on "A New Level" is a ripper, man. It's so tasteful and sonic in its delivery. I won't say it's my favorite guitar solo. Once again, I'm always an overall fan of anything Dimebag laid down. In my memory right off the bat, it's one of his great solos.

ARTISTdirect.com: Where are you at on the [upcoming] DOWN EP?

Anselmo: It's finished! That motherfucker is mastered and done. It's really stripped down. It's raw. Any feedback I've gotten on it has been, "It sounds like classic DOWN." It is what it is, man. I think it turned out pretty good.

ARTISTdirect.com: How many songs are on it?

Anselmo: It's six good, long-ass songs. The body of work is there. There's big chorus and slow BLACK SABBATH-infused heavy metal rock 'n' roll with a bit of a southern twist and of course dual guitar work reminiscent of a band like TROUBLE. Lord knows without TROUBLE, DOWN would be in trouble. [Laughs] Really, it's DOWN. I'll let you outside listeners make your damn opinions, and that's that.

ARTISTdirect.com: [Your upcoming] solo record ["Walk Through Exits Only"] sounds like it's really close to your heart.

Anselmo: Yeah, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. Once again, I'll leave it up to the mass listeners to judge it. I think it's very extreme without being any type of "core" or death metal, black metal. You can't really slide it into a slot. As far as heavy stuff goes, I hope I'm treading on new ground. I can't compare it to anything else. There's a lot going on musically and riff-wise. To me, it's the type of record that the more spins you give it, the more you hear within what's going on overall. Those are my favorite kinds of records. You can't catch everything on the first listen, and there's some depth to it. It's going to be very interesting. I can't wait to put this motherfucker out.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.com.

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