Rex Brown: Pantera’s Pre-Anselmo Albums Will Not Be Reissued

Though it's not uncommon for bands to reissue their older material, Pantera fans should not be expecting the group's earliest material to resurface in a reissue, at least according to bassist Rex Brown.

Pantera did just release a 20th anniversary of Reinventing the Steel not long ago and they have reissued other offerings in their catalog, but Brown revealed in a chat with eonmusic that the group's pre-Philip Anselmo output – 1983's Metal Magic, 1984's Projects in the Jungle and 1985's I Am the Night – won't be getting the same treatment.

Reflecting on those records, he stated, “This is like going back and looking at your old high school notebooks and going, 'Look at how far you’ve come in between.'"

While Brown credits the band with having a solid work ethic at a young age, still being teenagers when they self-released their early records, he's not exactly fond of those early recordings. At that point the band was fronted by Terry Glaze, but their true breakout occurred when Philip Anselmo joined the band.

The bassist says, "Once we got Philip in the band it developed into something else, and that was the Pantera that we know now, and that’s why we never talk about those old records."

He added, "It’s great to go back memory lane, and all that kind of stuff, but those are the farthest things that I wake up for in the first of the morning. 'Oh, remember that one tune ‘Nothing On (But The Radio),’ and the singer?' No! I mean, I hate fucking songs like that, but it was a growing process, and now, because the things are out, and they’ve been bootleged a hundred thousand times, people consider it a part of our history. It’s not, unless Philip’s singing on it, it’s not Pantera. That’s the way I look at it."

When asked if he ever felt those early records would be reissued, Brown concluded, “God no, god no! The brothers were against that, and I’m against it, and that’s just it. Period. It ain’t coming out."

While the early records won't resurface, you can find Pantera's Reinventing the Steel 20th anniversary set available via the band's webstore.