Official Truth, 101 Proof
Rex Brown
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Pantera was simply different than all the other metal bands that came out of
the 1990s. Their albums Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven, now considered classics,
were at the time both uncompromising and unique. In his memoir, Pantera bassist Rex Brown talks about those albums and the arc of a band that succeeded against all odds.
No one was closer to the heart of the band than Brown. He was there from the beginning and relates the ups and downs with an unabashed honesty.
A blurb from the back book jacket puts it all in perspective: "Barely a day passes that I don't think about Pantera. I dream about Pantera, have nightmares about Pantera - it's always there and I imagine it always will be. It's inevitable. After all it was - and still is - a huge part of my life, despite ceasing to exist almost ten years ago. It might sound like a cliche but we really were like brothers: me, Philip, Vinnie, and Dime. Unified from the beginning by a shared sense of how tough it was to be accepted in this business; as one, we lived and breathed every second of the wild ride that changed our lives in so many ways and came to a sickening, premature end one night in Columbus in 2004."
Brown is talking about Dime's horrific death by gunshot onstage. Rex wasn't there but he
learned of what happened moments later. That recollection is captured here in a book about one of the most original metal bands ever.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Steven Rosen, 2013
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