Former Pantera singer Philip H. Anselmo surprised fans at Osaka, Japan’s Umeda Club Quattro late last month when he sang his former band’s “We’ll Grind That Axe For a Long Time” with his current band, The Illegals, for the first time ever, according to blabbermouth.net. The track, was taken from Pantera’s final studio album, 1999’s Reinventing The Steel, and had never been played live by the Texas metal legends.

During the concert, blabbermouth reported that Anselmo introduced the song to the Osaka crowd by saying that songs like this, “always, always, always are a tribute and love to Vinnie Paul and Dime,” which refers to Pantera’s late drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

This is not the first time Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals have played Pantera songs live. The band announced last year that they’d be playing a full set of Pantera songs while opening for Slayer’s final tour. On one particular November show at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA, the band played Pantera classics “Mouth for War,” “A New Level” and “Strength Beyond Strength.”

Anselmo’s latest project, En Minor, announced this past December that a new album would be out some time within the next year. The band’s live lineup will consist of Anselmo, Stephen Taylor (Superjoint, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, Woven Hand, 16 Horse Power), Kevin Bond (Superjoint, Christ Inversion, Artimus Pyledriver et al), Paul Webb (The Mystick Krewe Of Clearlight, Mountain Of Wizard), Jose Manuel “Blue” Gonzalez (Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, Superjoint, Warbeast), Calvin and Joiner Dover (The Dover Brothers), and Steve Bernal (former first cellist in the Temple Symphony Orchestra).

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat