Pantera

Far Beyond Driven

Not a real winner

Review Score:

(6/10)
"Far beyond Driven" maybe the heaviest of all Pantera albums, but it isn't the best. It cuts off all the great songwriting from their previous Albums ( "Cemetery Gates", "This Love", "Mouth for War", "Walk" ... ) and leaves Pantera with nothing but their Anger and Fury. This may be a good credo for any Death/Black or Hardcore Band, but for those guys who really wrote brilliant songs which bypassed Metallica's abilities by far, it isn't enough. For the first listening, all the songs seem winners. But if you listen closer, you will perhaps realize that nothing much happens, just a big wall of noise. Phil can sing absolutely great - why doesn't he do it anywhere on this record? The production of the album isn't that cool. It's raw and edgy, but also monotonous as hell. If you think of the amazing Debuts of KoRN and Machine Head that were released around the same time, it falls really flat. I would say Pantera have become Victims of their "Heaviest Band ever" cliche and this album shows it. On the other hand, this album delivers intense agression and you just gotta headbang to it. And it has it's highlights although they are hard to figure out because everything sounds the same and they aren't up to what they did on Vulgar Display of Power : Strenght beyond Strenght, Becoming, Five Minutes alone, Use my third arm, 25 Years and the black Sabbath cover. Go for Vulgar Display of Power and Cowboys from Hell first, if you go for Pantera. Far beyond Driven is just average.

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