Pantera

Far Beyond Driven

You will be missed by all DIMEBAG:(

Review Score:

(10/10)
The first actual pantera album i heard was Vulgar Display,immediately i knew there was something different about the band,namely phils voice but more so the guitar sound of DIMEBAG.So then i went back and picked up cowboys,liked it even better,so i was pysched to see the release and grammy nomination of this album.It became an instant classic when i heard it,not that the other ablums were bad this one just had a different feel.Dimebags unique and versitile playing style really hit me,also i must say i call this a very HEAVY Black Sabbath(Paranoid) album.Reason being most if not all of Dimebags solos on this album have no backing guitar rythms,just bass lines,giving it a very very very sabbathish feel.Also the adding of the track Planet Caravan is a definate plus at the end of the album.

1.Strength Beyond Strength-Great speedy opening track,much in the vein of F#%$king Hostile.

2.Becoming-Some of Vinnie Pauls best foot work,and the beginning of Dimebags screeching whammy petal trademark sound.

3.5 Minutes Alone-The name says it all,5 minutes alone with this track and you'll be kicking the walls:)"Headbutt some broken glass"

4.I'm Broken-Most popular track off the album and definately how phil must feel after hearing of Dimebags tragedy:(

5.Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills-Not really a song but still gets an odd point across of sleeping with someone elses girl friend,while the guy is totally out cold or dead on drugs.

6.Hard Lines,Sunken Cheeks-A definate Cocaine song,extremely heavy with great break down moments.

7.Slaughtered-Heavy heavy heavy...just as heavy as any death metal out there including Cannibal Corpse,incredibly grooving middle section break also...did i mention its heavy?

8.25 years-Definately about phils battles during his first 25 years of life,considering thats how old he was when they made the album.....good song.

9.Shedding Skin-Something i'm sure we've all done,piss people away.Very moody,and again great riffs buy Dime,a very sabbathish sounding song.

10.Use my third arm-Not sure if its about what it sounds like but a very killer march like beginning that throughs down hard with a riff manic punch.

11.Throes of Rejection-Much in the same vein as the last this song is balls all the way through,with a very steady pace as if you were in the Heavy Metal marching band.Great offensive lyrics also.

12.Planet Caravan-Great choice for a Sabbath cover,Dimebag shines with his outro solo and its a very very good likeness of the original,trippy and all.And giving credit to Phil(being the jerk that he is)i will say he does an excellent job of sounding like ozzy.Good way to wind it up.

All that said this is definately my fav pantera album and also in the top 10 of fav metal albums for me.

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