The reactivation of Pantera seems to be an eternally-divisive topic in metal. While some folks are cool with the lineup of former Pantera members Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo hitting the road with Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, others feel it's not right without Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.
In an interview with Rock Interview Series, Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera reveals he feels a little uneasy about the band using the name Pantera. Cavalera said he understands that fans are stoked to see the band again and that it's not like it's just one former member on stage, but that maybe they should've called it "some kind of tribute to Pantera."
"There's two sides for that, right?!" said Cavalera. "It's so tough, because [on] one hand I understand that the fans wanna see it, and you still have somewhat a big part of that band, but you are missing two key elements on the brothers that are irreplaceable, in my eyes. So it's tough. It's really tough."
"The only thing that maybe… It's a little bit strange that they call it Pantera. It should be called some kind of tribute to Pantera — I think. It would have been a little bit more of a tribute to those songs and to that era. Because I don't really think it's Pantera without the brothers."
On the topic of whether or not the current iteration of Pantera should be called as such, Benante recently discussed how he feels as a member of the band and being on the receiving end of the criticisms. In an interview with Knotfest, Benante said he's put in the work over the years to get to this point in his career and doesn't really understand all the judgement from fans.
"There's one thing I noticed and it still makes me scratch my head. I don't think I've ever been so judged in my life by people. And I don't understand. People can be really rotten. I don't think they have the ears or the eyes that most people do, and they're so judgmental about it. It's like, man, let it go. You know what I mean? Don't personally attack me or Zakk for something that you have inside of you. You have a problem with something. And it's like you gotta find some way that is somewhat…"
"I've been doing this for over 40 years. Don't fucking judge me. If I didn't do my homework, then fucking judge me. But I did my homework. And if something is off somewhere, is that the thing that you pick on? You don't pick on the 95 percent of the other stuff where pretty much I tried to stay as accurate as possible?"
And then there's longtime Pantera producer Sterling Winfield, who expressed his astonishment at how picky fans can be when it comes to Wylde filling in for Dimebag. Which… I mean, is that realy that shocking?
