PHILIP ANSELMO: There Hasn't Been A Better Guitar Player Than DIMEBAG Before Or After Him

This past week, DOWN/ex-PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo spoke to Iowa's "pure rock" radio station Rock 108 about the 20th-anniversary reissue of PANTERA's "Cowboys From Hell" album. You can now stream the chat using the audio player below.

During an interview on this past Friday's (September 17) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM, Anselmo stated about his former bandmate, the late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, "I've said it before and I'll it again, man… As far as heavy metal guitarists, rock and roll guitarists [go], there's a lot of really good players out there, but honestly… This is a bold statement and I'm sure I'll get some stones thrown at me, but look… What I remember about Darell was he had this love for a certain style of music a certain style of music he listened to a lot of different stuff, but not that much stuff. Put it this way — he wasn't a BEATLES fan, he wasn't a ROLLING STONES fan, he was barely a ZEPPELIN fan. He was…. he was a trip, man. He liked his own stuff. So, as far influences go, it's really hard to trace him, man, because his talent, even when I joined the band, 1987, that dude was ripping — he was as ripping as he ever was. And my point is I say this now… I don't think there has been a better guitar player than him before him nor after."

PANTERA found its growl and groove on "Cowboys From Hell", a landmark album whose bone-powdering intensity, razor-sharp riffing and pummeling rhythmic assault represented a turning point in modern metal when it was released in 1990. More than just PANTERA's major label debut, many consider this album to be the official debut of the PANTERA lineup with singer Philip Anselmo, guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex Brown.

To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of "Cowboys From Hell", Rhino rounds up a three-disc "Ultimate Edition," a three-disc "Deluxe Edition," and a two-disc "Expanded Edition." All three editions include a newly remastered version of the original album along with unreleased and rare live performances from the "Cowboys From Hell" tour. The "Ultimate" and "Deluxe" editions also feature a disc of unreleased demos for nearly every album track, plus, "The Will To Survive", a previously unreleased song recorded during the album's sessions.

The "Deluxe" and "Expanded" editions of "Cowboys From Hell" were released this past Tuesday (September 14) at all retail outlets, including www.pantera.com and www.rhino.com . The "Deluxe Edition" is available for a suggested list price of $29.98 (physical) and $17.99 (digital) and the "Expanded Edition" for $19.98 (physical) and $12.99 (digital).

The "Ultimate Edition" features all three discs included in the "Deluxe Edition" and is housed in an intricate box including several replica memorabilia pieces from the "Cowboys" era. The "Ultimate Edition" will be available on November 23.

Along with the remastered version of "Cowboys From Hell", all three sets include a disc of live music recorded during the tour for the album. It begins with seven unreleased performances from PANTERA's September 15, 1990 appearance at the Foundations Forum metal convention in California, a show recorded for radio broadcast but never released commercially. The remainder of the disc contains the five-song EP "Alive And Hostile", a collection of performances recorded in 1991 at the Monsters of Rock festival in Moscow that was previously available only in Australia as part of a 1994 boxed set.

The "Ultimate" and "Deluxe" editions of "Cowboys From Hell" include a third disc that contains the previously unreleased "The Will To Survive", along with demos for 10 of the album's 12 songs, including early versions of the title track "Psycho Holiday", "The Art Of Shredding" and "Cemetery Gates".