Pantera - Far Beyond Driven [1994]

Genre: Thrash Metal, Groove Metal, Power Metal

MySpace: pantera

My opinion & thought: Pantera rocks! They are the best of the best of Metal music. Strive a big success in the mainstream music scenes with this one & only record that climbs up to number one position of Billboard chart.

Stands out track(s): Becoming, 5 Minutes Alone, Strength Beyond Strength

Far Beyond Driven is the seventh album by heavy metal band Pantera. The album was released on March 15, 1994 through East West Records. It is considered one of the most extreme albums ever to debut at #1 in the US.

The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) (seen below) was banned due to censorship laws so it was re-released with the now legendary skull impaled with a drill bit. Copies of the original version with the banned artwork are now quite rare and fetch high prices on online auction sites.

Musically, Far Beyond Driven was devoid of nearly all the Thrash Metal influences Pantera had on their previous three albums, settling for a continuous, slow chugging mid tempo groove throughout the album. Much of the shift was due to Dimebag Darrell's more down-tuned and heavier sludgy playing styles.

Anselmo's lyrics on the album were far more personal than on the previous albums. Songs such as 'Becoming' and '25 Years' appear to be about Philip Anselmo's early life.

In the liner notes of the album, all the songs' lyrics are printed beside the cover of "Planet Caravan". The somewhat defensive liner note reads:

"This is a Black Sabbath song off of the Paranoid album. So don't freak out on us. We did the song because we wanted to. It has nothing to do with the integrity of our direction. It's a tripped out song. We think you'll dig it. If you don't, don't fucking listen to it. Thanks. On behalf of the rest of Pantera, Phil Anselmo '94".

This was the first Pantera album with Darrell being called "Dimebag Darrell" and not "Diamond Darrell," although in Vulgar Video he is referred to as "Dimebag".

A limited edition box set released in Australia and New Zealand contained two copies of the album, with both the original and new artworks.

The Japanese and Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection editions both contain a bonus 13th track. The track ,'The Badge' is a 'Poison Idea' cover.

The album is referenced in the Machine Head song "Aesthetics of Hate", the third track from the 2007 album The Blackening.

The track 'Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills' is a reference to the song 'Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine' on Ted Nugent's album Weekend Warriors.

Reception:

The album features a cover version of Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" as the closing track, which reached #21 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and #26 on theUK Singles Chart. The album's fourth track and first single, "I'm Broken", reached #19 on the UK Singles Chart.

Rolling Stone (5/19/94, p.103) - 4 Stars - "...a kind of aesthetics of thud...the real art smolders in the noise itself..."

Entertainment Weekly (4/1/94, p.54) - "If you're burned out on raging young men spewing aggression atop jackhammering drums and grinding guitars, then pass on Pantera. But if you've still got a yen for that sort of fare, than you can't do much better than this slab of metallic mayhem." - Rating: B+

Melody Maker (4/2/94, p.35) - "Like great techno, it's utterly flawless music, free of any error, minimal and animal enough to make a screaming bloody mess of the head."

Chart positions:

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1994	The Billboard 200	1
1994	UK Album Chart	3
1994	Australian Albums Chart	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1994	"Planet Caravan"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	21
1994	"I'm Broken"	UK Top 40 Singles Chart	19
1994	"Planet Caravan"	UK Top 40 Singles Chart	26

Tracklisting:

• All tracks by Pantera unless noted otherwise.

1. "Strength Beyond Strength" – 3:38
2. "Becoming" – 3:05
3. "5 Minutes Alone" – 5:47
4. "I'm Broken" – 4:24
5. "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" – 2:53
6. "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks" – 7:01
7. "Slaughtered" – 3:56
8. "25 Years" – 6:05
9. "Shedding Skin" – 5:36
10. "Use My Third Arm" – 4:51
11. "Throes of Rejection" – 5:01
12. "Planet Caravan" (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) – 4:03

Personnel:

• Pantera – Arranger, producer
• Terry Date – Producer, engineer, mixing
• Phil Anselmo – Vocals
• Dimebag Darrell – Guitar
• Rex Brown – Bass Guitar
• Vinnie Paul – Drums

Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill [1996]

Genre: Thrash Metal, Groove Metal, Power Metal

MySpace: pantera

My opinion & thought: This is my favourite Pantera's album, yet the loudest & heaviest from them. When the media announced that the metal music age is over, they came up with this heavy shit that hits the scenes again. Bravo!

Stands out track(s): The Great Southern Trendkill, Drag The Water, Sandblasted Skin (Reprise)

The Great Southern Trendkill is the eighth studio album by Pantera. It was released in May, 1996 through East West Records.

Due to tension within the band, Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals alone at Trent Reznor's Nothing Studios in New Orleans; Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown and Vinnie Paul recorded the music at Chasin Jason Studios in Dallas, Texas. It reached #4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.

The Great Southern Trendkill notably features some of the fastest tempos and most down-tuned guitars that the band ever recorded. It also has a more experimental nature to its songs, such as the acoustic guitar and keyboard-laden "Suicide Note Pt. I".

Unlike Pantera's first three major label albums, the vocals are often double tracked and layered to create a more "demonic" effect. An example of this can be heard in the chorus of "13 Steps to Nowhere", when Phil Anselmo's singing voice is backed up by high pitched screaming, done by Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt fame.

The lyrics tackle topics such as Anselmo's hate for the media ("War Nerve"), suicide ("Suicide Note Pt. I"), drug abuse ("10's", "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)") and the end of the world ("Floods"), and Anselmo's view on trends ("The Great Southern Trendkill", "Sandblasted Skin").

'Drag The Waters' is a warning to the listener to always question other peoples motives. In fact, the music video starts off with a warning by an unknown male voice that says 'In everyday life, there is more than meets the eye. To reach the depths of truth, we must drag the waters'.

'Floods', the album's longest song, is about the end of mankind and contains a guitar solo considered by many to be Dimebag Darrell's finest. Indeed, Guitar World magazine voted it as the 15th greatest guitar solo of all-time.

'Suicide Note Pt 1' was later used many times as an intro song for the live shows around the world.

Professional reviews:

• Melody Maker (5/25/96, p.49) - "It makes my brain hurt, my eyes water and my genitalia retract like a startled turtle. I cannot think of higher recommendation, considering the kind of album it is. If it made me feel all warm and gooey or tearful and lovelorn, then it would be a pitiful failure by its own lights."

• Spin (7/96, p.96) - "...mature speedmetal and perfect summer fun: twisted power ballads, rap-style toasting, almost radio-worthy melodies, plus all the right jackhammer drum jolts, wrestler bellows, and guitar lurch..."

Tracklisting:

All songs were written by Pantera.

1. "The Great Southern Trendkill" – 3:46
2. "War Nerve" – 4:53
3. "Drag the Waters" – 4:55
4. "10's" – 4:49
5. "13 Steps to Nowhere" – 3:37
6. "Suicide Note, Pt. 1" – 4:44
7. "Suicide Note, Pt. 2" – 4:19
8. "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)" – 4:50
9. "Floods" – 6:59
10. "The Underground in America" – 4:33
11. "Sandblasted Skin (Reprise)" – 5:39

Credit:

• Phil Anselmo – Vocals
• Dimebag Darrell – Guitar, Backing Vocals
• Rex Brown – Bass, Backing Vocals
• Vinnie Paul – drums, Backing Vocals, Production, Engineering, Mixing
• Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt - Additional screams on tracks 1, 2, 5, and 7.
• Big Ross - Keyboards on track 6 and 8.

Seth appears courtesy of Earache Records. Big Ross appears courtesy of himself.