Reinventing the Steel is Pantera’s final studio album, released on March 21, 2000. It debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul produced it themselves with Sterling Winfield, at the Chasin Jason studio Dimebag built in the Arlington area of North Texas. Pantera split in 2003, so this was the last record the four of them made.
The Short Version
- Released March 21, 2000, in the US on EastWest/Elektra. Ten songs, 43:53.
- Recorded 1999 to 2000 at Chasin Jason Studios, near Arlington, Texas.
- Produced by Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul and Sterling Winfield. The first Pantera major-label album without Terry Date.
- No. 4 in the US with 161,105 first-week copies. RIAA gold.
- “Revolution Is My Name” was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance.
How Did Reinventing the Steel Do?
It opened strong. Wikipedia puts first-week US sales at 161,105 copies, per Nielsen SoundScan, enough for No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The UK release followed on March 27 and the Japanese one on April 5.
Abroad it reached No. 2 in Australia, No. 3 in Finland and No. 8 in Canada. It stopped at No. 33 on the main UK chart but topped the UK Rock and Metal chart. In the US it went gold.
Fans liked it more than most critics did. Metal Edge readers voted it Album of the Year for 2000, and Guitar World readers placed it No. 2 among that year’s guitar albums. Rolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and Entertainment Weekly a B+. Blabbermouth’s 8/10 review found “a slew of subtle hooks” on closer listening.
Phil Anselmo has named it his favorite Pantera album, Wikipedia notes. In the 2020 reissue announcement, Blabbermouth quoted him simply: “I love that record.”
Where Was Reinventing the Steel Recorded?
At home. Wikipedia’s credits place Chasin Jason Studios in Arlington, Texas. Loudwire’s Jon Wiederhorn describes it as the studio Dimebag built before The Great Southern Trendkill, which our piece on that album places in Dalworthington Gardens, the small city inside Arlington.
The bigger change was who sat behind the desk. Terry Date had produced or co-produced every Pantera studio album since Cowboys From Hell in 1990. This time Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul and Sterling Winfield produced, and Winfield and Vinnie Paul engineered. Howie Weinberg mastered it at Masterdisk in New York.
“It was the first record we did without [producer] Terry Date.”
That is Anselmo, speaking to Loudwire. Rex Brown, in the same piece, gave the guitarist the credit: “Dime really came out of his hole and delivered.”
The brothers had run a desk long before 2000. Vinnie Paul engineered Rotting Corpse’s 1987 and 1988 demos at Pantego Sound, the studio of their father, Jerry Abbott, nearby in Pantego. The band history and our Pantego Sound article tell that part.
How Pantera Wrote Its Last Album
They studied themselves. “We chose our five favorite songs from each album we had done and picked apart what we liked about them,” Brown told Loudwire. The aim was to keep what worked on the earlier records without copying any one of them.
Vinnie Paul described the mood in a 2012 Revolver interview quoted by Blabbermouth: “I felt like things had turned a corner.” Anselmo, also quoted from Revolver, said he showed up to the jam sessions in better shape than before, and called that period “a breath of fresh air.” The result is a short, direct album: ten songs in 43:53, and the opener, “Hellbound,” is done in 2:41.
Wikipedia files it as groove metal, the sound Pantera had built through Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven. Blabbermouth’s reviewer called it “utterly refreshing to hear an album that is as unwaveringly ‘metal’” at a time of genre hybrids.
Kerry King’s Solo on “Goddamn Electric”
The album’s best Texas story happened in a bathroom. Wikipedia says the outro solo on “Goddamn Electric” was “recorded by Kerry King in a bathroom after Slayer performed at Ozzfest in Dallas on July 13, 1999.”
Brown told Loudwire that Dimebag had brought a four-track recorder to Ozzfest, where Slayer was on the bill. Dime put King in a bathroom with it and asked him to “Play this lead real quick.” The result closes the second track on the album, and King is credited on it.
Our Slayer history tells the story of King’s own band. Our piece on the Clash of the Titans tour covers the 1991 Slayer bill that opened at the Starplex in Fair Park.
Slayer
Formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981, and Kerry King’s band at the time of the “Goddamn Electric” solo. Start with Reign in Blood (1986).
Reinventing the Steel Tracklist and Where to Start
Start with “Revolution Is My Name.” It was the single, released on January 23, 2000, two months ahead of the album. It earned a Best Metal Performance nomination at the 2001 Grammys, where Deftones’ “Elite” won. Metal Edge readers also voted it Song of the Year.
Then play “Goddamn Electric” for the King solo, and “It Makes Them Disappear,” the longest track at 6:21. For the lyrics, go to “I’ll Cast a Shadow” and “We’ll Grind That Axe for a Long Time.” Loudwire calls Anselmo’s words on both “honest and visceral,” full of pride in what the band had done. Its writer also singles out the whispers on “Hellbound” and the D-beat charge of “Death Rattle.”
“Hole in the Sky,” a Black Sabbath cover, is a bonus on the Japanese edition. It was also released as a Japan-only single on November 21, 2000.
Here is the full tracklist, with times from Wikipedia:
- “Hellbound” (2:41)
- “Goddamn Electric” (4:56)
- “Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit” (4:19)
- “You’ve Got to Belong to It” (4:13)
- “Revolution Is My Name” (5:15)
- “Death Rattle” (3:17)
- “We’ll Grind That Axe for a Long Time” (3:44)
- “Uplift” (3:45)
- “It Makes Them Disappear” (6:21)
- “I’ll Cast a Shadow” (5:22)
The Bonfire Cover and the Terry Date Mix
The cover photo, by Scott Caliva, shows a partygoer leaping through a bonfire holding a bottle of bourbon. Wikipedia notes the bottle’s label is pixelated to avoid trademark trouble. Metal Edge readers voted it joint Album Cover of the Year with Iron Maiden’s Brave New World.
For the 20th anniversary, Terry Date finally got his turn. The expanded edition was announced on September 10, 2020, and disc one is his new mix of all ten songs. Ultimate Classic Rock’s Dave Lifton reported that Date first resisted because he liked Winfield’s original work, then changed his mind because fans wanted his take.
“But the riffs and performances are strong. It’s just classic PANTERA,” Date said in the announcement Blabbermouth carried. Disc two is the original album remastered, plus radio mixes and edits. Disc three adds non-album tracks, covers of Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral” and “Hole in the Sky” and Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever,” and ten unreleased instrumental rough mixes.
The three-CD and digital set came out on October 30, 2020. A two-LP set on 180-gram silver vinyl, limited to 5,000 copies, followed on January 8, 2021. Per Wikipedia, the 20th-anniversary edition’s cover drops the bonfire for a steel-plate background, with the logo and title styled like Cowboys From Hell.
The Extreme Steel Tour and the Dallas Date
The 2001 tour carried the album’s steel in its name. A May 18, 2001, ABC News item reposted on pantera.com announced the Extreme Steel Tour, with Slayer, Static-X, Skrape and Morbid Angel opening for Pantera.
It opened on June 20, 2001, at the New Haven Coliseum in Connecticut. Its only Texas stop was July 14, 2001, at the Smirnoff Music Center in Dallas. That is the former Starplex in Fair Park, now Dos Equis Pavilion, the same shed where our Clash of the Titans article starts.
Dos Equis Pavilion (Smirnoff Music Center in 2001) Open
The Fair Park amphitheater was the Smirnoff Music Center when the Extreme Steel Tour played it on July 14, 2001, the tour’s only Texas date. Pantera came back on September 3, 2025, with Amon Amarth, King Parrot and Flesh Hoarder opening. Live Nation still books arena-size metal here.
Photo: Teresa Rivera via Google
The Extreme Steel run wrapped on July 26, 2001, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Pantera’s last show was the Beast Feast festival in Yokohama, Japan, on August 26, 2001. The European tour that followed was called off after the September 11 attacks, with the band stranded in Dublin, per Wikipedia and Loudwire. Pantera split in 2003, so Reinventing the Steel closed the catalog. Brown summed it up in the 2020 reissue announcement: “To me, it’s a great last performance.”
Pantera
Formed in Arlington, Texas, in 1981. Start with Vulgar Display of Power (1992) for the hits, then play Reinventing the Steel to hear how they closed it out.
Where to Hear It Live
As of October 2026, Pantera has no Texas dates announced. Rotting Corpse, whose 1987 and 1988 demos Vinnie Paul engineered, play the Haltom Theater in Haltom City on November 14 with Iron Jaw. On December 5 they play Spam’s Bar and Lounge in San Angelo. Every date is on the shows page.
Pantera’s next show is The Great NOLA Trendkill at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, on November 20 and 21, 2026, Loudwire reported. Pantera plays night two, Saturday, November 21, with Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Eyehategod and Rāde, per the band’s lineup post. Tickets are on pantera.com.
Today’s lineup is Anselmo and Brown with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. Dimebag died in 2004 and Vinnie Paul in 2018. For any Texas date, watch pantera.com’s tour page and the Dos Equis Pavilion calendar.
Start with “The Price of God” (1987)
It’s from the first Rotting Corpse session Vinnie Paul engineered, at Pantego in 1987, about thirteen years before he co-produced this album a few miles away. The song page has its spoken intro, and the discography has the session credits.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Reinventing the Steel
- Loudwire: Reinventing the Steel anniversary (Jon Wiederhorn, updated March 21, 2024)
- Blabbermouth: ‘Reinventing the Steel’ expanded 20th-anniversary reissue details revealed (September 10, 2020)
- Ultimate Classic Rock: Reinventing the Steel 20th-anniversary edition (Dave Lifton, September 10, 2020)
- Blabbermouth: Reinventing the Steel review
- Pantera.com: ABC News, Pantera lines up all-metal festival (May 18, 2001)
- Loudwire: The Great NOLA Trendkill festival announced (Lauryn Schaffner, September 8, 2026)
- Pantera.com: The Great NOLA Trendkill lineup by night (October 20, 2026)
- Wikipedia: Pantera
- Music Fiends: Pantera at Dos Equis Pavilion, Dallas, September 3, 2025 (M’Lou Elkins, September 5, 2025)
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Pantera’s last album?
Reinventing the Steel, released March 21, 2000, on EastWest/Elektra. Pantera split in 2003 without making another studio record.
Where was Reinventing the Steel recorded?
At Chasin Jason Studios, the studio Dimebag Darrell built near Arlington, Texas, in 1999 and 2000. It was produced by Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul and Sterling Winfield.
What songs are on Reinventing the Steel?
Ten: Hellbound; Goddamn Electric; Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit; You’ve Got to Belong to It; Revolution Is My Name; Death Rattle; We’ll Grind That Axe for a Long Time; Uplift; It Makes Them Disappear; and I’ll Cast a Shadow. It runs 43:53.
Who plays the solo on Goddamn Electric?
Slayer’s Kerry King plays the outro solo. He recorded it in a bathroom after Slayer’s Ozzfest show in Dallas on July 13, 1999.
What is the Reinventing the Steel Terry Date mix?
A new mix of the album by Terry Date, the producer of Pantera’s four previous major-label records. It is disc one of the 20th-anniversary edition released in October 2020.
