March 22, 1994 - Far Beyond Driven

Today is a very special day, because it's a triple release day! On the same day that Collective Soul and Our Lady Peace made their debuts, and two years since "Vulgar Display Of Power", Pantera released their "third" album "Far Beyond Driven" on March 22, 1994. Soon after their last album Pantera's guitarist changed his nickname from Diamond Darrell (which sounds very 80s) to Dimebag Darrell and Dimebag is what he is mainly referred to for the rest of his career. It's still the same hard-hitting foursome though and this album would be their commercial breakthrough as it actually reached #1 on the charts! For a band like Pantera to reach #1 is pretty amazing, let's see what all the hype is about!

The album begins with "Strength Beyond Strength" and they kick right into a fast-paced main riff with Dimebag leading the way with some nice guitar and Phil Anselmo singing a fast verse to match the mood. It rolls right into a similarly fast chorus and then they quickly move into another fast-paced verse and chorus before Dimebag takes off on a sweet new riff that is nice and fast and sounds pretty cool. After another quick verse and chorus the song completely breaks down to a much slower, chugging riff that sounds plenty heavy and Phil lets out a nice long scream as they transition into this new bridge verse. Phil sings a slow, dirty verse to match the new mood and Dimebag goes on another nice guitar break, this one slow but still nice and sweet. They nicely segue from here to Dimebag's earlier fast guitar break and then finish the song with a final verse and chorus. A solid introduction to another nice and heavy Pantera record. The next three songs were all succesful singles, starting with "Becoming" which has Vinnie Paul playing a nice drum beat behind a slower but still nice and heavy main riff driven by some solid bass by Rex Brown and a slow and catchy lead guitar riff by Dimebag. Anselmo comes in to sing a slow verse and Dimebag plays a pretty cool guitar riff to kick off the chorus as Phil continues to sing in a nice low voice overtop. They play another solid verse and chorus before Dimebag delivers a very distorted and high-pitched solo that isn't his best in my opinion, but it certainly sounds pretty crazy. After a final chorus they play the main riff a few more times to close it out while Paul plays some pretty sick double bass drums. Track 3 is "5 Minutes Alone" and it's driven by a slow, but undeniably headbanging main riff that with some cool stop-and-start guitar by Dimebag. He plays a cool little bit to kick off the first verse and Anselmo sings in a dirty, low voice that I like overtop the chugging riff. Dimebag's guitar sounds fantastic throughout the long verse and it eventually leads to a catchy chorus riff with Phil singing "5 minutes alooooooone, just give us" and things sounding pretty great. They play another long verse and another chorus before Dimebag goes off on a brief guitar break, but they quickly return to a short chorus and then Dimebag takes off for real this time. He plays a crazy fast solo that sounds absolutely insane and he is just shredding the shift out of that guitar. After the solo Dimebag shifts to a new heavy riff that also sounds pretty awesome and this flows perfectly into the catchy chorus. They continue to jam out the chorus riff for another minute or so ti end it, which I'm not a big fan of, but Phil continues to do some nice yells the whole time and that makes it sound solid until things finally fade to a close. It was a pretty awesome song, and so is this next one, their biggest single off the album "I'm Broken". They kick right into the chorus riff and it's pretty heavy and also undeniably catchy as Vinnie, Rex and Dimebag combine to play a really awesome riff. Once they hit the verse the guitar shifts to a new riff that Phil sings perfectly along to and Dimebag's guitar just sounds so epic and great in this one as he plays several sweet parts in the verse. They return to the catchy opening riff for the chorus as Phil nicely yells the name of the song overtop. After another epic verse and chorus Dimebag seems to start another verse but instead he leads perfectly into new riff that sounds pretty sweet and then quickly ties things back to the main riff to set the stage for the solo. Once again Dimebag gets a shining spotlight and boy does he deliver with a spectacular solo that sounds pretty damn incredible. The end of it leads perfectly back into the chorus and after jamming out a couple of those Dimebag diverts to his cool new riff once again and they decide to nicely jam out this heavy riff until the song fades to a close. Another pretty awesome song! Track 5 is a short song called "Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills" and it's driven by a decent bass riff by Rex while Dimebag comes in and out with some very distorted guitar. Phil starts to talk, not sing, overtop this music and his opening line of "I fucked your girlfriend last night" sets the tone for this strange little song. Phil goes on to ramble about he and this girl were all over each other while the boyfriend was in dreamland and while it's not awful, it's certainly not up to Pantera's usual standards and is a bit of a joke song. Dimebag's guitar sounds crazy at times, but it's just really really high-pitched guitar, nothing too fancy. At one point Phil says "your girlfriend could've been a burn victim, an amputee, a dead body, but god damn I wanted to fuck". That's some pretty creepy and twisted shit right there! This is easily my least favourite Pantera song, but at least it's not meant to be a headbanger. Up next is the longest song on the album, the 7-minute "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks". Dimebag starts off with a slow, quiet riff but things quickly turn into a nice and heavy main riff that is still plenty slow, but Dimebag does a great job switching from some crazy high notes to some nice low ones in this slow, chugging riff. The pace picks up dramatically for the verse as Phil sings some nice fast stuff overtop a cool faster riff and the chorus is an even more dramatic version of the opening riff, where the highs are even higher, and the lows are even lower, and things sound pretty sweet to me. After another fast verse and another nice slow chorus they return to the quiet opening riff and this sets the stage for the guitar solo as Dimebag plays a pretty sweet solo overtop the slow music and he sounds epic as hell as usual. After the solo they hit reset and we're back to the quiet opening riff, followed by a fast verse and another awesome chorus. Rex and Vinnie jam out the chorus riff until the end while Dimebag half-solos overtop, playing some cool guitar until things slowly fade to an end. Track 7 is titled "Slaughtered" and Dimebag leads the way with some fast-paced, almost thrash-y guitar and also does a couple cool breaks from the thrash with a different, higher riff that also sounds pretty cool. Phil comes in to sing another solid verse with some nice low and high vocals and the higher guitar break from before turns out to be the chorus riff and Phil nicely growls the name of the song a couple times and I love the growl! After another verse and chorus Dimebag plays a short but pretty sweet new riff that segues beautifully into a Vinne Paul drum beat that keeps the pace for another new riff. Phil sings a heavy new verse that sounds good and then Dimebag plays some epic guitar. They repeat this process and then Dimebag kicks right into a chorus and Paul's drums sound fantastic in this final chorus as does Phil's growling and the chorus ends another pretty cool song. The next song is "25 Years" and Rex, Vinnie and Dimebag jam out a slow headbanger in this long opening, but when the guitar falls away we can really hear Brown's bass before Dimebag returns playing some much more distorted guitar. Finally they kick into the first verse as Phil sings perfectly along to the hard-hitting riff and then Dimebag plays a bit more distorted stuff before the next line. It's hard to distinguish where the chorus starts as things don't abruptly change, but at some point they do start at the beginning of the riff again and so I guess we're onto the next verse. After another long verse (and chorus?) the song seems like it could end, but instead they shift into a more typical Pantera riff led by some cool fast guitar and Phil singing nicely overtop. This bit only lasts for about 1:20 of the 6 minute song, but it's probably the best part! Track 9 is "Shedding Skin" and Dimebag leads the way with a catchy guitar riff until he breaks down to some softer stuff for the verse as Phil sings in a low voice overtop. Things snap into a louder, more typical Pantera riff midway through the verse and this leads into the opening riff again, which turns out to be the chorus. They play another quiet-to-loud verse and catchy chorus before shifting to a new bridge riff with some more cool guitar by Dimebag and another solid verse from Anselmo. Dimebag then breaks out into a pretty sweet solo, but Brown's bass is also pretty cool in the background. They return to the bridge riff briefly, and then it's solo time again! Dimebag rips off another pretty cool solo and then they close the song out with another new riff that is distorted and pretty cool. Up next is "Use My Third Arm" and Dimebag leads a distorted opening with some simple but weird sounding guitar. The speed increases briefly to a sweet thrash-y level, but then returns to the distorted riff as Phil begins to yell a pretty good verse. The thrash-y guitar turns out to be the chorus riff and it sounds pretty good. After another verse and chorus they really slow things down with a nice breakdown that leads to a slow but nice ans heavy new verse with Phil providing more nice yells. Then they hit reset and we hear a final verse followed by an excellent flourish ending with some great guitar, bass and drums to nicely finish things off. Track 11 is "Throes Of Rejection" and Rex and Vinnie kick is off with a great rhythm section led by a nice bass riff by Rex and Dimebag joins in with some slow but epic guitar. He speeds up to some coop faster guitar but then returns to the original riff for the start of the verse as Phil sings in a lighter voice. In the chorus though, he's anything but as he screams "rejection!" overtop a slow chugging riff. After another verse and chorus you know it's solo time and Dimebag fucking delivers on this long solo filled with lots of awesome parts to it. After the phenomenal solo they go right into another heavy chorus followed by a nice and low and pretty sweet new riff that keeps chuffinf along until it comes to a grinding halt. The final song on the album is "Planet Caravan", a Black Sabbath cover that was originally on the legendary "Paranoid" album and a very interesting choice for a cover as this is a slow and trippy song that is not the norm for either Black Sabbath or Pantera. They do a pretty great cover and try their best to sound like the original. Dimebag plays the trippy light guitar, Vinnie plays a cool little drum beat and Phil nails the vocals as his low voice sounds pretty damn close to Ozzy's original distorted vocals. Just like the original, things just continue to roll on with no real break, but there's some cool trippy guitar inbetween vocals and things sound pretty chill. Dimebag plays a pretty sweet little light guitar solo doing his best Tony Iommi impression and dare I say he does pretty damn well.

That is the end of "Far Beyond Driven" and I thought it was another pretty fantastic album by Pantera. "I'm Broken" was an easy favourite for me, which was a pretty incredible song, but there were lots of other good ones as well. If it weren't for the strange "Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills" I would say every song was another nice jam and all four of these guys are playing some pretty cool metal. The fact that I think this the worst of their "three" albums just goes to show how solid and consistent of a band Pantera are, because this album was certainly no pushover! I don't think they're done yet either, so I eagerly await Pantera's next offering of sweet groove metal.