In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Phil Anselmo — former Pantera frontman and current headliner with his own band the Illegals — breaks down the albums that "made him who he is" today with picks like the first record he bought himself (KISS classic Alive: "It's very underrated") to the album he wishes he'd made: Slayer's Hell Awaits, of which he says "I'm a sucker for odes to Old Nick, so I'll take Hell Awaits for its creativity and absolute disdain for all things Christian."
Anselmo also drops a little information on his eclectic tastes in music with the "No One Will Believe I Own a Copy of..." category, where he rattles off his widely known love for the Smiths and old U2 before admitting he owns Stray by Aztec Camera. "It's a pretty fucking flowery record," he tells the magazine, "I don't know how it got in my collection."
When asked what he wants to be remembered for, the New Orleans rocker gives a "knee-jerk reaction" and name-drops Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, which he believes no one will misunderstand or argue against. Things get a little more intimate when the interviewer asks Anselmo about the first record he can remember getting down to, citing, "It was probably something like Mercyful Fate's Melissa. It's a toss-up between that or Slayer's Haunting the Chapel EP. It's hard to remember, I was very young. It could have been even earlier, something by Judas Priest… FUCK! It definitely wasn't romantic, whatever it was."
While he shouts out Metallica's Kill 'Em All earlier in the piece when discussing thrash history, Anselmo can't help but take a pot shot at the thrash outfit's mid-1990s "haircut phase" album Load. "I mean, it's a terrible record, man. I just don't get it. If you're gonna put out a record like that, just do a fucking side-project or something, ya know?"
Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals just wrapped up an extensive 2018 tour and are currently taking a break. Keep up with future dates of theirs over at their official site.
Below, watch Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals cover Pantera's "A New Level."
