![Zakk Wylde [right], Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown perform as Pantera during their 2023 reunion/tribute tour honouring late members, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tgbPsbWYWpBaURNSQhHTdH-1920-80.jpg.webp)
Zakk Wylde says he is ruling nothing out when it comes to the possibility of the Pantera tribute lineup recording new music together – but it wouldn’t be under the Pantera name.
“Yeah, you never know,” says Wylde, speaking to MusicRadar. “We could do something as like The Traveling Wilburys or something! [Laughs] Nah, you know what I mean, call it something different.”
The Pantera tribute/reunion tour started out in Mexico, in December 2022, with frontman Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown joined by Wylde on guitar, Charlie Benante of Anthrax on drums, with the shows honouring the memory of the late Abbott Brothers, guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul.
European summer festival shows followed, then support slots with Metallica on their blockbuster M72 Tour, with more in the diary for 2026. There were headlining arena tours, Knotfest in Australia… Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell at Back To The Beginning last summer. Might this Pantera tribute one day take them to a recording studio?
That is a conversation that is yet to be had, but Wylde, in London to promote the forthcoming release of Black Label Society’s new album, Engines Of Demolition, remains open to it – even if scheduling something beyond their current touring commitments would be difficult.
“Well, I mean, Phil’s busy right now. He’s doing a Down thing, and then he has En Minor,” says Wylde. “I think he’s doing a Scour thing, too. So Phil’s doing that. I think Rex is still writing, and he’s doing another Rex Brown record, and then, obviously, Charlie has Anthrax, so he’s been doing that, and then, obviously, we got the new Black Label, so I don’t know.”
Playing in this Pantera lineup is not something that Wylde has taken lightly. He and Dimebag we’re close friends.
I think what’s on the record is Dime’s enthusiasm and his energy, and his life force, because every night when you’re playing those songs, it’s Dime’s infectious energy that is in those songs
Stylistically, they approached metal guitar with similar sense of animalism, augmenting its rigid form with pyrotechnic flair, leaning upon country and southern rock influences to spice it up, give it a different flavour.
After playing his riffs and solos night after night, Wylde says you might hear some of Dimebag’s influence in this new BLS record, but not in the way that you might expect.
“I think what’s on the record is Dime’s enthusiasm and his energy, and his life force, because every night when you’re playing those songs, it’s Dime’s infectious energy that is in those songs,” says Wylde. “When he’d walk in a room, you could not notice it; you’d feel his life force when he walks into the room, and his light. But yeah, I think that’s in the writing, his energy is within the album.”
Pantera’s next live show is scheduled for 24 May, as they embark on a four-date European run supporting Metallica.
By the time those dates swing around, Engines Of Damnation will have been released, Wylde and Black Label Society will have toured the US. Anselmo’s Down entered the studio on 5 January, with an album released mooted for the third quarter of 2026. Benante’s Anthrax has finished mixing their new album.
Like Wylde says, it’s all systems go for all involved. But doing original music, a band together? It is possible.
“I don’t know. But you never say never,” he says. “Because it’s just like, we could all [be sitting there] one day, Philip might just call and go, ‘Guys, why don’t we get together, and we’ll do something, all of us – and we’ll get two other of our buddies in here, and then we’ll do a band.’ You know what I mean? So yeah, you never know.”
How might this band shape up? Well, it's all speculation, hypotheticals and what have you, but Wylde says if they did do something together it might not even be a quartet. This could end up a heavy metal version of Henley, Meisner, Frey, Felder and Walsh all up there doing Hotel California.
“Like the Eagles or whatever!” says Wylde. “They have six guys in a band or something like that, and everybody's kind of singing or whatever, you know?”
In the meantime, there's a lot to music to come. Engines Of Demolition is available to pre-order via Spinefarm, shipping and in record stores on 27 March.
Black Label Society’s US tour kicks off on 27 February in San Antonio, Texas. They play three UK dates in May. See Black Label Society for dates and ticket details.
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