Watch: Members Of KREATOR Join PANTERA On Stage In Italy

Members of KREATOR joined PANTERA on stage on Sunday (July 2) at The Return Of The Gods festival in Bologna, Italy to sing backing vocals on the song "Walk". Video of their appearance can be seen below.

KREATOR was one of the support acts for PANTERA at The Return Of The Gods, which featured additional performances by ELEGANT WEAPONS and CORONER, among others. BEHEMOTH was supposed to appear on the bill but was forced to cancel its appearance earlier in the day due to transportation issues.

PANTERA's surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),along with guitarist Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX),are touring the world under the PANTERA banner. They are headlining a number of major festivals across South America, Asia, North America and Europe and staging some of their own headline concerts. They will also support METALLICA on a massive North American stadium tour in 2023 and 2024.

According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who in 2021 said Wylde wouldn't tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It's unclear what changed his mind.

Up until his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his other home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle — basically meaning his heart couldn't pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

Back in April 2005, just four months after Dimebag was murdered, KREATOR frontman Mille Petrozza spoke to Metalshrine.se about the tragic incident. "To be honest, I was really shocked like everyone else in the metal world," he said at the time. "I really don't wanna think about it. This is something that can ruin your whole fucking day if you think about it. Of course, you're a target when you're on stage and anyone can come up to you."

He continued: "I don't want to be disrespectful, but this only happens in the States. Nobody would even think about coming to a fucking concert with a gun over here [in Europe]. In the States they should just change their fucking gun laws. If they would change this, they would have one less problem. I'm not saying that it's his own fault or anything, but I don't know how Dimebag thought about the laws. If he was into it, it was an irony of fate, but nobody deserves this stuff."

Petrozza went on to say that it was wrong to blame heavy metal in general for the circumstances that led to Dimebag's murder. "I mean, nobody blamed hippie music when John Lennon was killed," he said. "It was just a crazy lunatic. And I don't think it had anything to do with heavy metal. It was just a crazy fan. It's a fucking tragedy."