Pantera fans, rejoice! For the first time, an exhaustive, authorized photo book documenting the history of one of metal's most legendary bands will be hitting shelves and webstores this September.

Published by Lesser Gods, A Vulgar Display of Pantera is a weighty hardcover book will contain 400 pages from the earliest days of the band as a glam act in 1983 all the way through their end two decades later in 2003. The images (samples below) were provided by Joe Giron, one of the band's longtime photographers and earliest supporters. The foreword was penned by bassist Rex Brown, who also provided anecdotes in the book along with drummer Vinnie Paul.

In the foreword, Brown discussed Pantera's relationship with Giron, stating, "As we got better as musicians and as a band, he got better as a photographer. Soon he was showing up all over Texas at our shows, taking photographs and documenting the life we were living."

Giron was not merely a photographer and mega-fan as Brown noted, "He was also working hard to get us out there in a bigger way, pitching us to his magazine and media contacts. Meanwhile, we'd roll into shows with a hundred people behind us and he'd be right there with us. He was slowly becoming part of the team."

Throughout his career, Giron has also photgraphed other top flight acts including AC/DC, Van Halen, U2, Gwen Stefani, David Bowie and more, but now focuses his talents on shooting the World Poker Tour and headed the photography team at the World Series of Poker.

Arriving Sept 13. and in a limited run of 10,000 copies, fans can pre-order A Vulgar Display of Pantera at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indie Bound.

Images From A Vulgar Display of Pantera

Joe Giron / Lesser Gods

Joe Giron / Lesser Gods

Joe Giron / Lesser Gods

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