Metal Underground.com

Pantera's "3 Vulgar Videos from Hell" is a must-have for any hardcore Pantera fan. One walks away from the viewing experience holding onto letting tears flow being that Dimebag Darrell is no longer with us after having been shot to death on the stage back in December of 2004. The sheer Vulgar Display Of Power going on here from the set's first disc to the second collection of video and live performances makes it real hard to deny this legendary rockin' Texas band the undisputed title of the greatest heavy metal band ever.

For those who had the original release from 1999, this is completely upgraded and includes chapter breaks, which the original release did not have, including new menus and a new Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix.

First up in the set is the classic Cowboys from Hell - The Videos. It's about 40 minutes long and features three videos and two live performances. The viewer is treated to all sorts of rare backstage and on tour footage of Phil goofing off with fans and Dimebag jokingly squirting mustard at an unfortunate soul who should never have been that close to the golden prankster in the first place. The videos are for "Cowboys from Hell," "Cemetery Gates," and "Psycho Holiday," with the awesome and still totally raw sounding live cuts of "Art of Shredding," and "Heresy."

My personal favorite of it all follows up and that is the 70-minute Vulgar Video. This is about letting it all hang out' like real rockers were meant to with Pantera destroying Skid Row during a drunken softball match, hotel doors being ripped off their hinges, only to be joyously destroyed by band members and roadies. The videos included are "Walk," "This Love," and "Mouth for War."

Disk two, 3 Watch It Go, is the main attraction. It is the last video that Pantera released and is about two hours in length, including much more footage on the road than the first disc. You get Dimebag howling at a speaker box lit on fire and what looks to be a Pantera security guard painted green and demonstrating his 'Hulk Blood' powers after slamming a beer, next proceeding to run amok and utterly wreck a tour venue's bathroom. Very funny stuff even as it seems totally ridiculous in hindsight. The videos included are "I'm Broken," "5 Minutes Alone," "Drag the Waters," and "Planet Caravan."

The last segment is bonus material, made up of three kick ass live masterwork performances from the Monsters of Rock in Moscow Tour: "Cowboys from Hell," "Primal Concrete Sledge," and "Psycho Holiday."

This two-DVD set disappointingly does not offer any kind of Dimebag tribute and there is no focus at all on the 'making of' any of the great Pantera albums or even any personal information about each bandmate. It's more clearly a testament to what these guys were really about to their alcohol and weed-laced diehard fans: having fun and taking things to the limit as much as they possibly could when they weren't unleashing their highly original and brutal sound on it captivated audiences from one stage in the world to the next. Any Pantera fan or lover of metal music will not be able to sit through both discs and come away from it without a cheek to cheek cheshire cat grin that makes you totally feel like you too were part of all the raucous partying and insane 'full throttle' Pantera performances yourself. And in the end, I do believe Dimebag is staring down from the Rock n Roll tavern in the sky, saluting yet one more shot of the 'black tooth grin', saying in that great cowboy-like drawl of his: "Mission accomplished."