Former DREAM THEATER and present THE WINERY DOGS drummer Mike Portnoy has weighed in on the truth that PANTERA‘s surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) have united with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour below the PANTERA banner.

Anselmo and Brown, together with Wylde and Benante, are headlining quite a lot of main festivals throughout South America, Asia, North America and Europe and staging a few of their very own headline live shows. They’re additionally supporting METALLICA on an enormous North American stadium tour in 2023 and 2024.

Based on Billboard, the brand new PANTERA lineup has been given a inexperienced mild by the estates of the band’s founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, in addition to Brown, who in 2021 mentioned Wylde would not tour with PANTERA if a reunion have been to occur. It is unclear what modified his thoughts.

Portnoy mentioned the controversy surrounding PANTERA‘s comeback in a brand new interview with “THAT Rocks!”, the weekly YouTube collection hosted by Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. Requested if he has had an opportunity to catch a live performance from the brand new PANTERA but, the 56-year-old drummer mentioned (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I caught the present in Studying, Pennsylvania. It was fricking phenomenal. I liked it. Completely liked it… Charlie and Zakk are completely killing it, actually. I could not be happier for them. I believe all of the naysayers that got here on this skeptical initially are actually form of consuming their phrases and realizing how badass that is and the way vital it’s, to maintain that legacy alive.”

He continued: “I do know it was a tricky tablet for lots of people to swallow, however I believe the truth is that if Dimebag hadn’t been killed, I believe they certainly would’ve reunited sooner or later by now. And I perceive Vinnie, as soon as Dimebag was killed, I perceive Vinnie by no means eager to do it with out him; it is his brother, so I get that. However now that Vinnie is not with us both — it is Phil and Rex‘s band as properly, and I believe wanting to hold on the legacy for a complete new era is a superb, good thing. They’re an vital band and vital to steel, and why should not they be on the market doing it, you realize? And truly, they’re doing it so tastefully and with a lot honor and respect to Dime and Vinnie. They’re there each present proper there on Charlie‘s bass drum heads. So I believe they’re doing it proper.”

Again in July 2018, lower than a month after Vinnie Paul‘s passing, Portnoy instructed Metallic Wani: “Vinnie was a pal of mine for a very long time. We turned buddies proper round when [PANTERA] put out ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and [DREAM THEATER] put out ‘Pictures And Phrases’. We have been each signed to Atco on the identical time, so we have been coping with numerous the identical individuals. And I turned good buddies with not solely Vinnie, however all 4 of the fellows within the band, and, to today, stay good buddies with all of ’em.

“When Vinnie got here on the scene, when it comes to his drumming, I believe [PANTERA] have been the right band that was wanted within the steel world round ’91, ’92, as a result of just about the ‘Huge 4’ have been form of knocked out of fashion by grunge,” he continued. “SLAYER, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, METALLICA after which additionally TESTAMENT and EXODUS and OVERKILL, all these bands across the early ’90s obtained killed by grunge. So PANTERA was the one band to actually carry steel by the ’90s. I might say PANTERA, MACHINE HEAD and SEPULTURA — to me, these have been the three that have been carrying it by. However PANTERA have been the highest of these.

“And getting again to Vinnie particularly, after I heard ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and ‘Vulgar Show [Of Power]’, it was, like, ‘Okay, that is fuckin’ nice steel drumming,'” Portnoy added. “I already was listening to Charlie Benante ], Dave Lombardo [SLAYER] and Lars Ulrich [METALLICA], however by the early ’90s, Vinnie was form of the following man in line to hold the torch for the thrash or groove steel motion.”

Throughout an look on Eddie Trunk‘s SiriusXM present, Portnoy mentioned that “Vinnie was a giant a part of the manufacturing” of the early PANTERA albums. “Him and Dime [PANTERA guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott] co-produced with Terry [Date]. So he was very into that stuff — they have been accomplished at his studios. And he was very into that — it was one other factor that he was actually good at that you simply overlook about. You simply take into consideration the drumming and the partying, however he was additionally actually behind the PANTERA manufacturing.”

Up till his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking phrases with Anselmo, whom the drummer not directly blamed for Dimebag‘s demise.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they shaped DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, whereas performing with DAMAGEPLAN on the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA have been stealing his ideas.

Vinnie handed away on June 22, 2018 at his different house in Las Vegas on the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged coronary heart, in addition to extreme coronary artery illness. His demise was the results of continual weakening of the center muscle — mainly that means his coronary heart could not pump blood in addition to a wholesome coronary heart.

Mike Portnoy photograph credit score: Travis Shinn