| Reinventing the Steel | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 21, 2000 (2000-03-21) | |||
| Recorded | 1999–2000 | |||
| Studio | Chasin Jason Studios, Arlington, Texas | |||
| Genre | Groove metal | |||
| Length | 43:53 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| Pantera chronology | ||||
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| Pantera studio album chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Reinventing the Steel | ||||
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Reinventing the Steel is the ninth studio album by Americanheavy metal bandPantera, released on March 21, 2000,[1] March 27 in the UK[2] and April 5 in Japan,[3] throughElektra Records andEast West Records. This was the last studio album Pantera released before their nineteen-year breakup from November 2003 to July 2022, and it is the band's final album to feature the Abbott brothersDimebag Darrell andVinnie Paul, before their deaths in 2004 and 2018, respectively.
Reinventing the Steel was produced by the Abbott brothers in addition toSterling Winfield, making it Pantera's first studio album since 1988'sPower Metal not to be produced byTerry Date.
In Australia, a two-disc "Tour Edition" of the album was released. The first disc consists of the album proper while the second is an unofficial hits compilation.
The album was reissued on October 20, 2020, with extra discs including a new mix by Date and unreleased tracks to honor the album's 20th anniversary.[4][5]
Unlike other Pantera releases, twoB-sides were recorded during theReinventing the Steel sessions, those being "Avoid the Light" and "Immortally Insane", found on theDracula 2000 andHeavy Metal 2000, and theTexas Chainsaw Massacre soundtracks, respectively.
SingerPhil Anselmo namedReinventing the Steel as his favorite Pantera album.[6]
Reinventing the Steel contains lyrics mostly about the band itself, as on "We'll Grind that Axe for a Long Time" (where the band members tell about how they have kept it "true" throughout the years, while many of their peers "sucked up for the fame") and "I'll Cast a Shadow" (about Pantera's influence on the genre). There are also songs about their fans, like "Goddamn Electric" and "You've Got to Belong to It". "Goddamn Electric" mentionsBlack Sabbath andSlayer, two of Pantera's main influences. The solo for "Goddamn Electric" was recorded byKerry King in a bathroom afterSlayer performed atOzzfest in Dallas on July 13, 1999.[7] The band members dedicatedReinventing the Steel to their fans who they viewed as their "brothers and sisters".
The cover art is by Scott Caliva (1967–2003), a friend of Pantera lead singerPhil Anselmo. Caliva took the photo of a partygoer at Anselmo's house jumping through a bonfire clutching a bottle ofWild Turkey bourbon whiskey. The bottle ispixelated on the cover so the label would not be visible, to avoid trademark infringement.
The 20th Anniversary Edition cover art was only made with the steel marking background, along with the logo and the album name similar to their 1990 album,Cowboys from Hell.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Alternative Press | [9] |
| The Austin Chronicle | [10] |
| Blabbermouth.net | 8/10[11] |
| Chronicles of Chaos | 7/10[12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[13] |
| NME | 6/10[9] |
| Q | [9] |
| Robert Christgau |  [14] |
| Rolling Stone |  [15] |
The album was generally well received upon release, though reviews were less enthusiastic than on their previous albums.Rolling Stone gave the album a score of 3.5/5, and called it "Metal-revivalist....relying on the genre's primal elements of rage and analog noise...chopped up with squealing dissonance....brutal enough to please underground purists and familiar enough for weekend headbangers."[15]Entertainment Weekly stated that it "...resumes their scorched-earth policy with vigor....dropping aural anvils [along] with a dash of inventiveness..."[13]
Q magazine gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said it was "Pantera's attempt to upgrade [Judas Priest's]British Steel-era pure metal spirit."[9]Alternative Press echoed this sentiment, calling it "An undiluted, unvarnished slab of riffs paying distinct homage to Judas Priest'sBritish Steel, and not just in a titular sense, but in basic song construction."[9]AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, and stated "Reinventing the Steel is a nonstop assault on the senses, offering no respite from the intensity until the album has stopped playing. Yet somehow, it comes off as a cut below their best albums; perhaps it's that the band's sound lacks the sense of freshness that sparkedCowboys from Hell,Vulgar Display of Power, andFar Beyond Driven."[16]
Reinventing the Steel debuted at number four on theBillboard 200 and number five on the Top Internet Albums, selling 161,105 copies in its first week of release according toNielsen Soundscan. On its second week, it fell to number 24, selling only 59,962 copies, a 62.8% drop in sales. In total, the album only appeared on that chart for twelve weeks. On May 2, the album was certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting 500,000 units sold.[17] However, it has yet to reach platinum status, making it Pantera's only major-label studio album not to reach sales of 1,000,000. According toNielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 593,000 copies domestically as of October 2003. It also debuted at number eight on the Top Canadian Albums chart.
In a 2022 interview withGibson TV,Rex Brown blamed the album's lacklustre success compared to the band's previous albums on the dominance of thenu metal genre at the time of its release.[18]
In the 2000Metal Edge Readers' Choice Awards, the album was voted "Album of the Year" and "Album Cover of the Year" (tying withIron Maiden'sBrave New World for the latter), while the single "Revolution Is My Name" won "Song of the Year".[19]
"Revolution Is My Name" was nominated for aGrammy Award forBest Metal Performance in 2001, but lost toDeftones' "Elite".
The album was ranked at No. 2 onGuitar World's Readers Poll for "The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 2000".[20]
A three-disc 20th anniversary set was released on October 20, 2020. It features remixes of the original tracklist by longtime Pantera producerTerry Date, singles that were previously not released on any studio album, radio edits of album tracks, and instrumental rough mixes of the album's original tracks.
A section of "Death Rattle" was re-recorded and renamed to "Pre-Hibernation" for theSpongeBob SquarePants episode "Pre-Hibernation Week".[21] The song appears in theSpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights album.
All credits adapted from the original CD issue.[22]
All tracks are written by Pantera.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hellbound" | 2:41 |
| 2. | "Goddamn Electric" (featuringKerry King) | 4:56 |
| 3. | "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit" | 4:19 |
| 4. | "You've Got to Belong to It" | 4:13 |
| 5. | "Revolution Is My Name" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "Death Rattle" | 3:17 |
| 7. | "We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time" | 3:44 |
| 8. | "Uplift" | 3:45 |
| 9. | "It Makes Them Disappear" | 6:21 |
| 10. | "I'll Cast a Shadow" | 5:22 |
| Total length: | 43:53 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Hole in the Sky" (Black Sabbath cover) | 4:17 |
| Total length: | 48:10 | |
All tracks are written by Pantera (except where noted).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hellbound (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 2:41 |
| 2. | "Goddamn Electric (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 4:56 |
| 3. | "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 4:19 |
| 4. | "You've Got to Belong to It (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 4:13 |
| 5. | "Revolution Is My Name (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "Death Rattle (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 3:17 |
| 7. | "We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 3:44 |
| 8. | "Uplift (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 3:45 |
| 9. | "It Makes Them Disappear (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 6:21 |
| 10. | "I'll Cast a Shadow (2020 Terry Date Mix)" | 5:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hellbound (2020 Remaster)" | 2:41 |
| 2. | "Goddamn Electric (2020 Remaster)" | 4:56 |
| 3. | "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit (2020 Remaster)" | 4:19 |
| 4. | "You've Got to Belong to It (2020 Remaster)" | 4:13 |
| 5. | "Revolution Is My Name (2020 Remaster)" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "Death Rattle (2020 Remaster)" | 3:17 |
| 7. | "We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time (2020 Remaster)" | 3:44 |
| 8. | "Uplift (2020 Remaster)" | 3:45 |
| 9. | "It Makes Them Disappear (2020 Remaster)" | 6:21 |
| 10. | "I'll Cast a Shadow (2020 Remaster)" | 5:22 |
| 11. | "Goddamn Electric (Radio Mix)" | 4:57 |
| 12. | "Revolution Is My Name (Radio Edit) (2020 Remaster)" | 4:10 |
| 13. | "I'll Cast a Shadow (Radio Edit)" | 3:55 |
| 14. | "Goddamn Electric (Radio Edit)" | 4:14 |
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Avoid the Light" | 6:27 | |
| 2. | "Immortally Insane" | 5:11 | |
| 3. | "Cat Scratch Fever" | 3:49 | |
| 4. | "Hole in the Sky" |
| 4:13 |
| 5. | "Electric Funeral" | 5:43 | |
| 6. | "Hellbound (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 2:41 | |
| 7. | "Goddamn Electric (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 4:56 | |
| 8. | "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 4:19 | |
| 9. | "You've Got to Belong to It (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 4:13 | |
| 10. | "Revolution Is My Name (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 5:15 | |
| 11. | "Death Rattle (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 3:17 | |
| 12. | "We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 3:44 | |
| 13. | "Uplift (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 3:45 | |
| 14. | "It Makes Them Disappear (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 6:21 | |
| 15. | "I'll Cast a Shadow (Instrumental Rough Mix)" | 5:22 | |
| Total length: | 172:56 | ||
Pantera
Additional personnel
Technical personnel
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[23] | 2 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] | 26 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[25] | 8 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[26] | 55 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27] | 3 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[28] | 21 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] | 18 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[30] | 12 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[31] | 31 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[32] | 33 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[33] | 40 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34] | 10 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[35] | 14 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[36] | 43 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[37] | 27 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] | 84 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[39] | 33 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[40] | 1 |
| USBillboard 200[41] | 4 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[43] | Gold | 593,000[42] |
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)| Studio albums | |
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| Live albums | |
| Extended plays | |
| Compilations | |
| Singles | |
| Promotional singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Video albums | |
| Related bands | |
| Related articles | |
