Despite the generally cold reception of the band's first four albums from the 1980s, critics have lauded Pantera's style thereafter; Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic.com states that "there was no greater metal band during the early to mid-1990s than Pantera." The band has received accolades such as ranking 45th on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and fifth on MTV's "Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All-Time." Pantera began to suffer from mounting tensions between band members in the mid-1990s, largely due to Phil Anselmo's rampant drug abuse. Anselmo, having been nagged by a painful back injury for several years, explored the option of corrective surgery, however he was not comfortable with having to take an extended break from Pantera to recover, which could have taken up to a year. Instead, Anselmo began using heroin as a painkiller and as a result his behavior became erratic and volatile, his performances suffered and he began to distance himself from his bandmates, who were initially unaware of his addiction. In 2001, the band went on hiatus and was never able to successfully reunite, with the Abbott brothers unable to communicate with Anselmo, who was immersed in several side-projects, chiefly Down and Superjoint Ritual. Pantera officially disbanded in 2003 and a war of words ensued, with Phil and Vinnie Paul trading inflammatory comments and blaming one another for the break-up of Pantera via the media. Any hope of the band members ever reconciling their differences and possibly reuniting was lost in 2004, when "Dimebag" Darrell was shot and killed on-stage at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio by a mentally ill man named Nathan Gale while performing with Dimebag and Vinnie's new band, Damageplan.