PHILIP ANSELMO Wants To Use His ROB HALFORD-Style Vocal Range Again For 'Old-School' Metal Project

March 16, 2022

In a new interview with Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, former PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo was asked if he is working on any music at the moment. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I just pretty much had a new studio installed next door [to my house], and we're working all kind of bugs out and whatnot. So I tell my guy, my engineer, I tell him, I said, 'Just program some drums, man. Give me some drums. Give me a different drum beat every day — up beat, down beat, whatever. Give me something.' So I'll walk in, there's a drumbeat, and I'll just pick up any instrument and just go right off the cuff. And it is some of the worst music you can imagine.

"I don't know, man," he continued. "I'm this close, man [holds two fingers close together] — I'm this close. I'm feeling something. We'll see what it is. I've got a couple of options. I just don't know, man. If it's gonna be metal, I wanna do it old school, man. I've been kind of feeling more [Rob] Halford lately, man, vocal-wise, just singing, using my range again. So, we'll see. It's gotta be right."

Less than two years ago, Anselmo told Revolver magazine that Halford is "hands down" the greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time. "Absolutely," he said and then hesitated for a few seconds before also giving major props to late BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and HEAVEN & HELL singer Ronnie James Dio. "Dio. Ronnie James Dio — my Lord, what a powerful presence. [Rob and Ronnie] both — if you were standing on the side [of the stage], they were the loudest freaking thing on that stage. If you went around the front, they were the loudest thing on that stage. So it was amazingly powerful."

In a 2010 interview with Antiquiet, Anselmo said about Dio: "Ronnie James Dio was probably one of the coolest motherfuckers in the biz. A lot of people could say that and just be talking nice, but I'm being very sincere here. PANTERA first did a gig with BLACK SABBATH and Dio in '93, I believe. It was in Italy. He was just the most down-to-earth motherfucker. He toked weed with us after the gig, he sent 'War Pigs' out to me. He was just a very, very engaging person. Really, really sweet, real down to earth. He kept in touch throughout the years, and DOWN ended up playing some shows with SABBATH and Dio a couple years ago. Once again, I just wanna let everybody know that this guy was just one of the true good guys of this entire fuckin' business, man."

Back in 2014, Anselmo told Rock Scene that Halford was a huge influence on him when he first started developing his singing style.

"I don't think I started maturing as a vocalist till I was 15," he said. "And then after I started to mature, everything happened really quickly, and my range grew mightily. And it was quick, it happened quick. By that time, I'd started jamming with older guys, whatnot, and I would come home from school every day and practice JUDAS PRIEST's 'Unleashed In The East' front to back and do it the way Rob Halford did it.

"People who think Rob Halford uses falsetto are sadly mistaken; that's a full-out voice, and that's how I learned," he continued. "And I never had falsetto; I've always sang full out. Eventually, when I found and wanted and needed to find my own identity, I purposely kind of abandoned that style because, in my mind, it had already been done before and done the best it could be.

"There's only one Rob Halford," he added. "I know there's some other guys that could sing very well and whatnot, but that style, I thought, had been done to death, and heavy metal needed a new attitude, I guess, brought to it instead. And it was already there; there was already the first METALLICA record and SLAYER, for sure and whatnot. And don't get me wrong, Tom [Araya] could hit those high falsetto notes, but that's not what SLAYER was about; it was more about aggression, especially vocally. So it was all happening around me. I just needed to get that perfect blend, man, of hardcore attitude from bands like AGNOSTIC FRONT, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER… shit… obviously BLACK FLAG and… so many others. It's unbelievable how many influences I used and incorporated. I even used death metal moments and whatnot, cup the mic, shit like that, for effect. So I always evolved."

Find more on Pantera
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).