Cowboys from Hell
| Cowboys from Hell | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Pantera | ||||
| Released | July 24, 1990 | |||
| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Studio | Pantego Sound Studio in Pantego, Texas | |||
| Genre | Groove metal, thrash metal | |||
| Length | 57:39 | |||
| Label | Atco | |||
| Producer | Terry Date | |||
| Pantera chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Cowboys from Hell | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| AllMusic |  |
| BBC Music | favorable |
| The Daily Vault | C+ |
| Exclaim! | favorable |
| Record Collector | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Cowboys from Hell is the major label debut and fifth overall studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990 through Atco Records.
After being turned down "28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth", Atco Records representative Mark Ross was asked by his boss, Derek Shulman (who was interested in signing them), to see the band perform after Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. Ross was so impressed by the band's performance that he called his boss that night, suggesting that Pantera be signed to the label.
Ross on the performance:
"By the end of the first song, my jaw was on the floor. The sonic power of it all — the attitude and the musicianship — blew me away. Basically, you had to be an idiot to not think they're amazing. I mean, how could you see these guys and not think, 'Holy shit!'?"
Atco Records accepted, and at the close of 1989, the band began writing and recording its major label debut at Pantego Sound Studio. The band adopted a new sound and attitude, and the writing of what would become Cowboys from Hell saw the band exploring darker subject matters, while the guitar would be notably heavier, despite occasionally reverting to the hair metal formula. The band recorded Cowboys from Hell: The Demos, a self-produced demo album which featured 11 tracks, 10 of which would make the album cut. The last two tracks to be written were "Clash With Reality" and "Primal Concrete Sledge", while a song entitled "The Will to Survive" would be discarded early in the recording sessions.
Recording took place in Pantego, Texas at the Pantego Sound Studio and the band were feeling confident about their material and themselves, finally feeling that they were making the kind of album they believed in. One key track to emerge during the writing was "Cemetery Gates", a seven-minute power ballad that would be the first song to show both their diversity and Anselmo’s vocal range. Although they had already recorded four albums prior to Cowboys from Hell, Pantera felt that this was their true debut, working with a professional producer and a major label for the first time and creating music that was not simply stealing from other similar bands in an attempt to attract attention.
The cover art depicts the band in a quaint western saloon. In reality, it is a 1910 photo of the "Cosmopolitan Saloon" in Telluride, Colorado.Dimebag Darrell is pictured in the center playing guitar, while Vinnie Paul is to his left counting money, Rex Brown is leaning against the countertop and Phil Anselmo is shown jumping in the air to Brown's right. Anselmo states that he jumped off a bar stool to get high up in the air. He also said that it took him about ten takes until the cameramen got the shot into the desired style.
...
Wikipedia