Pantera

Far Beyond Driven

The Trendkillers at their best!!!

Review Score:

(10/10)
This was my introduction to Pantera, being from Texas, I was ecstatic to find out that one of the most brutal heavy metal bands grew up only four hours away from me (in fact, my senior english teacher taught Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul in high school when she taught in Arlington), I have heard their earlier stuff, I've even heard their first studio album! The first incarnation of Pantera was very much like most 80's hair bands, all screaming and whining, no meaning or feeling. Phil Anselmo didn't join the band until their independent release "Power Metal", and his voice did not really mature to the deep growl we all know and love until this album came out.

"Far Beyond Driven" is a trip into the troubled mind of a great metal singer, many of the songs on this album are very vulgar (in other words, not meant for radio), and emit undertones of adolescent frustration, sexual inadequacy, disapproval by elders and other meaningful portrayals of a man coming to terms with his issues. I think their cover of "Planet Caravan" is the best remake of a Black Sabbath song that I've heard, they really capture the emotion of the original.

If you like heavy guitars, deep growls, hard bass lines, and brutal, unforgiving drum beats, buy this album now, you won't regret it.

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