When Avenged Sevenfold played Ozzfest in 2006, they regularly covered Pantera's "Walk," and when they headlined the 2011 Golden Gods, they banged out a killer rendition of "Mouth for War" joined by none other than Vinnie Paul. The Cowboys From Hell were a formative influence on Orange County's most popular metal export, and are so beloved by singer M. Shadows that when we asked him to pick his favorite song by them, he couldn't come up with just one answer. "I don't really have a favorite Pantera song. Their songs are all equally brilliant to me," he said. Fortunately, he added, "I have a story about 'Slaughtered' though."
"Slaughtered"
When I was in 7th grade, we were asked to bring in music that represented us. I played "Slaughtered," because it was the heaviest, most brutal thing I had ever heard and I loved it. It was the only song that got turned off by the teacher after about a minute. I thought that was cool. [Avenged Sevenfold's late founding drummer] The Rev had the same assignment so I told him that my song got turned off in class. So the next day he proceeded to bring in Pantera's "Strength Beyond Strength," which also got cut short. I guess the teacher was not a fan."
Below, see Philip H. Anselmo discuss his favorite Pantera songs to play live:
