Today it is eight years since the world lost one of its most innovative guitarists, “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. He was aged 38 and killed whilst onstage with his band DAMAGEPLAN in Ohio, USA.
Dimebag formed PANTERA in 1981 with his brother Vinnie Paul and in 1990 the band had their first commercial success with the album “Cowboys From Hell.” The band went on to even bigger success with their distinctive sounding southern groove style metal offering “Vulgar Display Of Power” in 1992.
The brothers later went on to form DAMAGEPLAN after much tension within PANTERA. They released their debut album “New Found Power” in 2004 before Darrell was shot and killed while performing with the band onstage, along with three more people.
Dimebag left his mark and also a huge gap in the metal world, but the legacy of his music lives on. He was ranked 92 in Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Guitarists” and number 1 in UK metal magazine Metal Hammer and frequently appeared in polls and guitar magazines, as well as writing his own column in Guitar World magazine. He endorsed Dean guitars and had co-designed his own signature guitar just months before his death called the Razorback.
R.I.P. Darrell, from all at METAL SHOCK FINLAND.