Phil Anselmo's Memoirs 'Mouth for War' Set for 2015 Release

BY Gregory AdamsPublished May 14, 2014

Phil Anselmo's storied career is about to be told by the man himself via an upcoming autobiography. The former Pantera vocalist has given the memoirs the punny title Mouth for War: Pantera and Beyond, and it's currently set to hit stores January 13 through Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books imprint.

According to an Amazon listing, the book is "a no-holds-barred look inside of Philip's brain, his history with Pantera, the loss of his best-friend, Dimebag Darrell, and an unflinching examination into the downward spiral of pain and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life."

The autobiography is co-authored by Corey Mitchell.

While a focus of the book will apparently analyze the effects Anselmo had on Pantera, stating that he "turned a bar-bumping glam metal band into the heaviest, most extreme, and most successful heavy metal unit since Metallica," a wellspring of other musical outfits from the prolific metal performer will likely be brought up in the tome as well. This includes sludgesters Down, Superjoint Ritual, Viking Crown, his current work with the Illegals and more.

On the personal front, his battles with addiction could lead to anecdotes about his nearly lethal heroin overdose in the mid '90s, while his spotty relationship with the surviving members of Pantera will also be covered.

"Soon after Far Beyond Driven topped the charts, Anselmo hit rock bottom at the band's celebrated return gig in Dallas, Texas, where he was declared clinically dead for more than four minutes after he overdosed on heroin," the synopsis reads. "He later watched Pantera disintegrate due to backbiting, alcohol and drug abuse, and chronic pain. And in addition to nearly killing himself, Anselmo has been blamed for killing the band and wrongfully accused as the reason his best friend and guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott was murdered onstage by a deranged fan."


Anselmo's autobiography comes in the wake of former Pantera/Down bandmate Rex Brown's 2013 book Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera, which painted the vocalist in a bad light.

"Honestly, [Rex's] assessment of me [in the book] — I don't care," Anselmo had previously told MetalSucks. "Egotistical, self-centered, everything is always about me. Y'know what? I'm a lead singer and he's a bass player. That's his perception. So I'm fine with it. I don't hold any fucking grudges. But I think he did take some angry swipes and I don't need to be specific. There is a great deal of mythology when it comes to his 'quitting' Down. That particular chapter is a little disturbing."


  

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