Dimebag Darrell (aka Darrell Abbott), best known as the axeman for the legendary Pantera was truly a unique character. That term gets thrown around a lot when describing someone who passed away but Dimebag truly lived up to that description during his time on earth, a time that was filled with some of the craziest, most hilarious moments that musicians ever get up to. His reputation as a wild man who loved to drink, have fun and make everyone feel good is one that is well deserved and a personality that is severely missed in the music world. His death on December 8th 2004 is not forgotten by many who followed the man’s career and the amazing music he created and the memory continues to live on to this day through various tributes such as the annual Dimebash which have featured such heroes as Ace Frehley, Zakk Wylde and Dave Grohl plus the home footage videos that Dime was known to shoot constantly through his life which was captured and released initially on the Pantera home videos 1, 2 and 3 back in the 90’s and brought back to life in a new series of video footage in Dimevision of the man himself enjoying life in only the way he does.
The original Dimevision video was released back in 2006, a fitting tribute to the guitarist who passed away tragically at a Damageplan show while on stage only 2 years prior. It featured more or less the same style of home video footage as it’s predessesors but with a deeply emotional attachment to it (the final credit roll is a real tear jerker) but still, it always had the fun goofy stuff, the pranks, the fireworks, drunk shennanigans and of course, live footage of Dime himself. This second release aptly titled “Roll With It Or Get Rolled Over” has more of the same stuff again, only it appears to include even more vintage footage of a young “Diamond Darrell” during the 80’s when hair was big and music was real rock n’ roll. While the vintage stuff is not new in any of the video series here, some of the stuff on this release is real deep cut stuff and pretty obscure if you never knew much about Dimebag before Pantera exploded in the 90’s. Not to give too much away here of course but the Randy Rhoads tribute from 1985 is brilliant and mindblowing that it was captured on video but it showed that even then, Dime had the style and the chops as a guitar player as well as the charisma who really knew how to put on a show and have some serious stage presence. It didn’t matter to him at all whether it was 50,000 people at a festival or 5 people in a parking lot, he just loved to put on a show and that never went away through all his life.
In many ways this new video release felt a little more like a tribute than just a video release showing his crazy antics on the road and at home. There was a vibe felt as I sat and watched the preview copy sent to me by Metal Blade Records that I hadn’t really felt before on the other releases and maybe it wasn’t just from the type of footage shown but the way it was put together which was in large done by the same people who did the previous video releases including Dime’s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney and Daryl “Bobby Tongs” Arnberger who was one of Dime’s closest friends. Possibly that sentimental and emotional feeling from this release could perhaps have something to do with the fact that it’s been so many years since we saw anything from Dimebag since his death and now that some time has passed to reflect and accept that this guitar hero is really gone, anything we see or hear of Dime now has a weird mix of nostalgia and fondness but with a subtle sadness to it. The fact that we can get used to someone being gone in some ways is healthy but also tough, even more so when it’s someone like Dimebag Darrell.
One of the final pieces of music Dime ever laid his gift to was on the Rebel Meets Rebel collaboration with country musician David Allan Coe, a brilliant piece of work even if you weren’t a fan of country music. While we heard a bit of music from that on the previous video release, this time we see footage of Dime hanging out with Coe which was super cool to see and it’s rare stuff like that which makes Dimevision 2 even more special. Other highlights include extensive live footage from the first Dimebash as well as the many other tributes including some great (and not so great!) tattoos from fans around the world. It’s difficult to really sum up and review something like this because judgement aside, there is so much cool and rare footage here that it becomes something like a video museum of not necessarily the best of Dimebag but more like an archive of things no fan has ever seen. Out of all the home videos so far, this is probably the most interesting and definitely one for the most diehard Dimebag fans out there. It may not have the funniest or craziest footage captured but it’s completely enjoyable in a whole different way (But yeah there are still some crazy shit here, the drunk naked dude losing his shit before being tackled is one of the highlight reels and boy do they run with it!). Long live Dime as they say but we know his music will always be with us forever.
Released November 24th 2017
Pre-orders are available via Metal Blade at:
www.metalblade.com/dimevision
A PledgeMusic campaign has also been launched to support the release of the set. In addition to acting as a pre-order for the set, the PledgeMusic campaign includes an assortment of rare items to buy, including props and costumes that belonged to Dimebag and that you can see in his home videos/Dimevision volumes, rare stage clothing, and other merchandise.
Visit the PledgeMusic page here:
www.pledgemusic.com/projects/dimevision2
