No band affected the metal world more than Pantera during the early to mid-'90s. Beginning with its 1990 album, Cowboys from Hell, the post-thrash band put to rest any and all remnants of the '80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al., were anything but passé. Sure, a lot of critics point toward Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the subsequent alternative rock explosion as the death knell of '80s-style metal, but you could just as easily point toward Pantera. In fact, most metalheads do exactly that. Looking back, it wasn't like legions of dyed-in-the-wool headbangers suddenly cut their hair and began listening to Seattle grunge bands. Rather, a great many metalheads were heavily affected by the emergence of Pantera, especially the Vulgar Display of Power album, which was unlike any other metal album of the time, emerging as it did in 1992. That album in particular stood out at the time, slowing down the breakneck tempos of thrash and upping the heaviness quotient, as well as changing the vocal style, pushing it more toward hardcore or even grindcore.

As they began their transformation into post-thrash/groove metal they began to absorb a lot more from the underground extreme metal scene of the late 80s which included bands such as Slayer, Sepultura, Cro-Mags, and Exhorder. The later band to this day causes much controversy and dispute between fans despite the fact that Exhorder lead singer Kyle Thomas himself stated that many of these claims are over-exaderated and unfair for a band that "worked a hell-of-alot harder" than Exhorder did to get where they did.

On VH1's list of 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, Pantera ranked forty-fifth. Legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott has won numerous awards from Metal Edge, Hit Parader, Circus, Kerrang, Guitar One, Guitar World, & Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazines for his brutal, lighting fast solos, and unmatchable grooves.
Pantera played a major role in the "resurrection" of American Metal in the 90's and influence can be seen to this day in a broad range of metal bands. Glam was rapidly dying out, and grunge was taking over. In February and July 1992, Pantera then Megadeth both released albums, Vulgar Display of Power, and Countdown to Extinction, the latter reaching #2 on the billboard album charts. Together, the two albums began a resurgence in American metal music. In 1994 Pantera's third major label album Far Beyond Driven debuted on the charts at number one, astonishing those is the music industry who were unaware of the band's growing legion of fans.

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