Pantera - Far Beyond Driven: 20th Anniversary Edition (Album Review)
Thursday, 03 April 2014
Written by Alec Chillingworth
There never has been, and never will be, another band quite like Pantera. Most prominent at a time when Metallica all had nice haircuts, grunge was king and nobody really gave a toss about metal, they provided the huge kick up the arse that the mainstream deserved, reintroducing metal to the masses while bands like Sepultura, At The Gates and Cradle Of Filth began making waves of their own on a smaller scale.
Unleashed in March 1994, 'Far Beyond Driven' was a masterclass both in utter brutality and an unflinching inability to compromise. Pantera's seventh full length (or third, if you like to forget about the glam and spandex) remains the heaviest album to ever top the Billboard charts.
The music speaks for itself at this stage. A far more layered, harrowing experience than the previous two Pantera albums, 'Far Beyond Driven' should never have made it to #1.
Numbers like Strength Beyond Strength are the stuff nightmares are made of, with Phil Anselmo's raw, muscular bark threatening to peel the skin from your bones and use it as a sleeping bag.
Throes Of Rejection is just one of those fuck off, kill everything statements of aggression, while Becoming and 5 Minutes Alone display Anselmo's knack for massive hooks.
The late, great DimebagDarrell's riffs pepper the album, with his technical prowess preventing it from becoming just a meat-headed pissing contest. The guitar solos on Becoming and Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks continue to make the most aspirational of virtuosos jealous, and them riffs, man. Darrell's signature grooves sound just as poisonously potent as they did 20 years ago.
As an album, it's flawless. If you do not own 'Far Beyond Driven', give yourself a stern telling off and buy this. But, if you do already own the album, is there much here to convince you to shell out again? Such a landmark release deserves the full bells and whistles treatment, as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ received last year, but there is no such luxury for Pantera.
A bonus disc - ‘Far Beyond Bootleg – Live From Donington ’94’ - contains the band's Monsters Of Rock gig, and that's it. If you're a fan, chances are you own their 'Official Live: 101 Proof' album, which is a much more complete, fleshed-out live document than you get here.
'Far Beyond Driven' is a magical moment in time that will never be recreated, and a true lesson in musicianship and the realisation of a vision. In that sense, it's perfect. It’s a truly classic album that should be owned by any metalhead with half a brain. But if you've already got it...well, do you really need to buy it again? On this evidence, not really. One star off for lack of goodies.
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