During a conversation with Revolver, Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo was asked to name the greatest metal vocalist of all time is.
The musician replied:
“Hands down, Rob Halford. Absolutely.”
Realizing he missed something, Phil added:
“Oh! Can I have… Oh!… Dio! Ronnie James Dio. My Lord, what a powerful presence and a powerful man! They both [Halford and Dio] – you can hear them project from the stage.
“If you were standing on the side, they were the loudest freaking thing on that stage. If you went around the front, they were the loudest thing on that stage. So… it was amazing, powerful.”
In the past, Phil told Antiquiet about Dio:
“Ronnie James Dio was probably one of the coolest motherf*ckers in the biz. A lot of people could say that and just be talking nice – but I’m being very sincere here. Pantera first did a gig with Black Sabbath and Dio in ’93, I believe. It was in Italy.
“He was just the most down-to-earth motherf*cker. He toked w*ed with us after the gig, he sent ‘War Pigs’ out to me. He was just a very, very engaging person. Really, really sweet, real down to earth.
“He kept in touch throughout the years, and Down ended up playing some shows with Sabbath and Dio a couple of years ago. Once again, I just wanna let everybody know that this guy was just one of the true good guys of this entire f*ckin’ business, man.”