Pantera

Far Beyond Driven

A poor effort

Review Score:

(4/10)
This album is considered a minor classic. Can someone explain why?

The riffs are excellent, the drumming intense, the vocals brutal. Problem is, Pantera forgot to write any songs. Most of this album is just a few riffs thrown together at random, the odd sub-Death Metal growl over things, continue for four or five minutes, then do it again. Most of this album is "brutal for brutal's sake", and forget playing music.

Case in point, "Becoming". There is just no flow to the song whatsoever, sounding like someone with Attention Deficit Disorder put it together. Vinnie Paul has the strangest kickdrum sound this side of an old Dismember album. Dimebag's riffs do not run into each other. Phil Anselmo growls monotonously. Rex's bass is there somewhere, and it just gets frustrating, because it should be better.

Dimebag Darrell's guitars are the high point of the album, and also a disappointment. He's a one of a kind player, but seemed intent in showing off. The guitar sound has a killer, crunching tone to it, but almost every song featured a clipped, almost staccato riff in it somewhere.

Phil Anselmo must be one of the worst singers in metal. He has the vocal range of a rutting stag. His vocals are one dimensional, and many of the lyrics incredibly juvenile. `Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills' has to be a contender for one of the worst songs to ever make it to record, so inane are the lyrics.

There are none of the classic headbangers on this album, like "F***ing Hostile" or "Primal Concrete Sledge" or "Domination". `Vulgar Display Of Power' suffered a little of the disjointed song writing too, yet the other albums either side of this pair are excellent.

Pantera seemed to be doing everything they could to distance themselves their early career `Glamtera' days by being as brutal as possible. They were also trying to distance themselves from the days when they were compared to Metallica. So they copied Exhorder's sound instead, note perfect but without the songs to back it up. Exhorder's albums sell second hand for many times the original price. `Far Beyond Driven' turns up in the bargain bin.

This is simply just not good music.

More Reviews: