Clearly Not Their Best Work. However...

Review Score: (6/10)
Pantera has cranked out a steady stream of thrash metal classics, culminating IMO with Far Beyond Driven, on which Dime's riffing and soloing touched the boundary between metal and noise terror. Recent releases have been somewhat inconsistent, and I agree with some reviewers that the band may be suffering from a lack of focus in the studio. Reinventing the Steel displays some touches of vintage Pantera but it's clearly not the caliber of the first 4 albums.

However, when I caught the band live earlier this year I was struck by how much better the songs from the album sound when performed live. The title track and "Revolution" were as hard and infectious as anything they've ever done, and the band played with ferocious energy (as they always do).

While I think it's far too early to write off the band, it will be interesting to see how they fare on their upcoming release and if they brought in outside help to provide perspective. Regardless, Pantera remains one of the top live acts in metal and I have faith that they'll step up and deliver the goods.

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