Review by Adam on August 2, 2001.

Call it the first Pantera album if you want, but truth is, it isn't the first Pantera album. Maybe what you should call it is the first one of any importance to your average metalhead. The band introduce their unique brand of metal with this cd and show off their true talent for song writing. "Cowboys From Hell" has basically all your qualities for a great heavy metal record with a little more than a bit to owe to their eightie's predecessors.

The album begins with the hard hitting title track and goes off into pure, unadulterated metal for much of the duration of the record. Songs like 'Heresy' brutally combine thrash with old school metal and create a massive and original sound. The production and quality of the recording itself is grade A with each passing album growing greater and greater in sound quality. One of the standouts on this disc is arguably the song 'Cemetary Gates' which begins with a mellow and luring introduction along with clean vocals and a clean, undistorted guitar line until it soon kicks into a full-on metal anthem.

"Dimebag" Darrel and Vinnie Paul shine on their respective instruments, and some of the guitar solos on this release are just amazing. This album helped pave the way to metal superstardom and pretty much launched their careers to help them further build on their sound and style. It is a must have for any Pantera fan and a great buy for all the metalheads out there who love their metal fast, loud, and extremly pissed off.

Bottom Line: Fans of Pantera should already have this, but for all you metalheads out there looking for some good old school metal, this album is for you!

Rating: 7.5 out of 10