Down

This long-awaited third album from the moody southern metal vets sees vocalist Phil Anselmo a changed man. As he lyrically dissects his scar tissue, both literal (from conquering painkiller addiction and undergoing back surgery after which he had to learn to walk again) and figurative (as he opens up about the murder of estranged former Pantera bandmate Dimebag Darrell in 2004 and watching Down's hometown of New Orleans get devastated by Hurricane Katrina and left to rot in 2005), the solid result is emotionally charged evolution.

Ex-pantera singer Phil Anselmo doesn't believe in A's for effort. "Never try/You either do it
or don't waste your time," he growls in "Never Try," in a voice etched with scars from his
own blues and trouble (the messy breakup of his old band, a personal war with hard drugs
-- he's been clean since 2002 -- and the near-destruction of his New Orleans home to
Hurricane Katrina). But Down, originally started as a Pantera side project, are a... More >