377. Pantera / Far Beyond Driven. 1994. 3/5

While many bands that I have reviewed in recent times had their problems negotiating their way through the early 1990’s due to the changing musical landscape that they faced, the opposite seemed to be the case for Pantera. Having already made the jump to tear away from their hair metal roots late in the 1980’s decade, their journey towards the groove metal sound they created for themselves had occurred before the tidal wave of grunge in 1991 had arrived, and as such they had already set their course on a different path well before so many other bands had to make a deciion about their future direction. From the wonderful guitar based hard core sound of “Cowboys from Hell” to the much heavier groove orientation of “Vulgar Display of Power”, Pantera tore through those indecision years of hair and heavy metal with their own brand and picked up fan adulation and momentum along the way.
The tour to promote “Vulgar Display of Power” had included many places they had not been to before and included being a part of the Monsters of Rock festival in Italy, before the band came back to the studio to write and record their follow up album.
Given that the band had steered the Pantera battle cruiser so expertly through the waters of the early 1990’s, they now needed to find the way they wanted to continue on this voyage. They were at the precipice of a new dawn in the evolving of the metal genre, one that in many ways they were leading. What was necessary was to decide just what they wanted to achieve with their own sound now that they had begun that route, and just how that would sound once they released their next album. Stay the course, and hold where they were, or take the next step and make things more extreme than they had already gone. Pantera was not averse to making great changes to their sound, and the next step in their evolution could have been the make or break of that course.

Pantera had been a polarising band from the outset, and the arrival of “Far Beyond Driven” didn’t change that. The fact that this album went straight to number one on the album charts in both the US and Australia shows that the fan base was awaiting its arrival and bought it en masse when it was released. And the album delivers more of where the direction of “Vulgar Display of Power” was heading musically by continuing in a very groove metal direction as Phil Anselmo’s vocals moved to an even more aggressive growl away from what he had first been known for, with Dimebag Darrell’s guitar finding its place to crunch those riffs and the squeal in the solo breaks, all held together by Vinnie Paul’s drum beat and Rex Brown’s tuneful bass guitar.
The album opening is straight in your face, upon you before you have barely pressed the play button. “Strength Beyond Strength” attacks you from the outset blasting out of the speakers at pace which careers along for the first minute or so before pulling back into the halting slow grind pace for the remainder of the track. For new listeners it is a confusing opening, where you think you are going to be getting an album at that high tempo but then find it dropped back before you know it. This segues straight in to “Becoming”, a song that throws all of Dimebag’s guitar squeal tricks into the fray. Lyrically, there is a lot going on here, and even for me in my mid-20's it was a bit beyond the singable options in some of the songs. To say Anselmo has tickets on himself in certain songs would be being kind, and he’s certainly entitled to write what he likes. Some of it is a bit cringeworthy though, even for the age. “5 Minutes Alone” carries on the same musical direction, and some may feel at this point that there hasn’t been a lot of change between songs, that there is a similar theme running throughout. Not an unfair comparison to make. The first single “I’m Broken” increases the passion and intensity in its own way, and it would be fair to wonder how Phil has any vocal chords left after this album’s opening. Also, is there not a lot of similarity in this track to “Becoming”? Or is it just me?
“Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills” changes the course of the album somewhat. Rex Brown once suggested that the song came from a jam, Vinnie drumming and Dimebag messing around with his pedal, and they ALL said “What the hell is that”? To be fair, most people who listen to the song think the same thing, and openly wonder how this made the cut for the album. And the lyrics... far out... seriously childish... but I guess they all had to agree on it. Fair amount of rubbish there though. This song pretty much seemed to kill this album off for me when I started listening to it. The banality of the lyrics and the utter boredom of the music is all I think about when I have to listen to this song.
The middle of the album recovers this slightly, though the length of the tracks now adds to the drama. There are some reasonable groove riffs in here and Anselmo’s vocals aren’t quite as abrasive, but the songs stretch too long. Seven minutes for “Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks” and over six minutes for “25 Years” does stretch the friendship a tad. “Slaughtered”, musically at least, is one of the better songs here, though the lyrics again are a nonsense.
The back end of the album has some good moments along the way. “Shedding Skin” is more moderately toned than most of the tracks here, “Use My Third Arm”, when it breaks out into the faster paced thrash-like moments, actually takes on the better parts of the album, while “Throes of Rejection” has its own style of enamour. “Planet Caravan”, the cover of the classic Black Sabbath song, is firstly a strange song for the band to cover, and secondly a strange song to complete the album. It’s quite a good version of the song, but after everything that comes before it, why is THIS the song that closes out the album?

This is by far the heaviest album Pantera released at this point of their career, but it came at the cost of the music. “Cowboys from Hell” had real singing, not shouting and screaming from Anselmo, and as a result Dimebag’s guitar riffs and solos were more measured, still looking to create a melodic environment rather than just crushing heavy riffs ad infinitum to sell this alongside how the vocals now come through. That’s a band choice, and one that a majority of fans seem to enjoy. I’m all for heavy, but not just for heavy’s sake.
Panera have never been a massive favourite of mine. I enjoy them in small doses, and I definitely enjoy the less extreme more than the more extreme. This is the more extreme. I was on a bus in Sydney on the night Pantera played their first ever gig in Sydney on the tour to promote this album, and there were a lot of metalheads on the same bus coming home from the gig. I asked them how it was, and they all revelled in telling me how awesome it was. When I was asked why I didn’t go (I was wearing some form of black metal shirt) I simply said I didn’t think Pantera were very good. This received a more violently aggressively voiced reply than I expected.
Over the years I have listened to this album sporadically. I never bought it. My CD copy was given to me by a friend who told me when he did that “I thought it was going to be great but it isn’t” and that because I collected albums that I would like it. And for the most part it sits on the CD shelves. It has come out for the last 2-3 weeks as I prepared this episode, and I won’t deny that through my stereo in the metal cavern this still packs a punch. It is a wall of noise. And there are songs, and even pieces of songs, that I have really enjoyed again through this period. The lyrics are generally awful, and the music does get routine and overbearing, but it isn’t a bad album. For me, I would consider it an average album. I don’t hate it, and I don't love it. And for a guy who doesn’t hate Pantera, but also doesn’t love them, I guess that is enough.

337. Pantera / Cowboys From Hell. 1990. 3.5/5

Pantera’s journey from basically being a 1980’s hair metal band, producing music that seemed like a poor cousin to the bigger bands of that genre in that era, to creating an album that found its way into the heavier lexicon almost through a time portal or a rip into a parallel universe, is one that still defies explanation. The band’s earliest albums, helmed on vocals by Terry Glaze, and with titles “Metal Magic”, “Projects in the Jungle” and “I Am the Night”, saw a slight but slowly elevated rise in the heaviness of the music, but not to the degree that most of the band desired. In the long run, the rest of the band, brothers Vinnie Paul Abbott and ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott and bass guitarist Rex Brown, concluded that the glam style that Glaze was preferring did not suit where they were hoping to head, and they parted ways in 1986. In his place the band auditioned a number of candidates, none of whom were able to provide what the band was looking for. Eventually, they found a new lead vocalist in 18 year old Phil Anselmo, completing what would be the final formation of the band until its hiatus. With this line up the band released their fourth album “Power Metal”, an album that moved forward in the band’s desire to change the sound they had produced on their first three albums. It certainly wasn’t what became known as ‘power metal’ as a genre, there was a mixture of glam/hair metal and even hints of thrash metal, all to create a more ‘powerful’ sound than the band had created before this.
It was at this point that the band began to seriously consider the direction they wanted to head in. Rather than continuing with wearing spandex and the style on stage that they had done so to this point of their career, they headed to what Vinnie Paul recalled as “Let's just go out there and be comfortable, jeans, t-shirt, whatever, and see where it goes”. It is interesting that since 1990 until the band went their separate ways, they more or less never acknowledged their 1980’s albums again, in interviews nor in playing the songs live. It became a non-existent vortex for them. Which, to be fair, it was for the majority of the band’s fans as well.
Shortly after “Power Metal” was released, Dave Mustaine was in the process of looking for a second guitarist for his band Megadeth, and he asked Diamond Darrell to join the band. Dimebag, who was obviously interested, demurred and insisted that his brother Vinnie Paul also be asked to join the band. However, Mustaine had already hired Nick Menza as their new drummer, and wouldn’t change his mind. Dimebag stayed with Pantera, and Mustaine eventually hired Marty Friedman to fill the guitarist slot. Most fans of heavy metal would agree that in both instances, the right decision was made.

Though many hardcore Pantera fans would disagree, the track list on this album is very front loaded, with the first half containing the big moments and the back half coming along, being dragged in their wake.
"Cowboys From Hell" almost sounds like a Skid Row song in places, and while it is a good song, and still has the feel of their earlier style. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great riff through the base of the song, Anselmo gets into his work immediately in his tough guy image, and the whole song rifles along all the way to its conclusion. As an entry point to the album, it does its job. "Primal Concrete Sledge" immediately comes in heavier on Dimebag’s riff and that soon to be famous Pantera groove. Anselmo’s scream comes forth drives through the song to its short and determined conclusion. This crashes immediately into "Psycho Holiday", which has some catchy hooks and a bouncy groove throughout, but it is Dimebag’s solo here that sets it apart from the opening songs on the album, the squeal of guitar brings everything to attention. The three opening tracks are a solid and effective start to the album and bring with them the basis of the structure the band was looking to build on after pushing aside their first four albums.
"Heresy" is where this album starts to come into its own. This is in the style of the thrash greats like early Exodus and Metallica and Death Angel. It has a great riff that is the backbone of the track, rolling along all the way through, and the drumming is superb, a perfect cacophony from Vinnie Paul. It is possibly the purest thrash metal song on this album, with heavy rhythms and even Rob Halford like screaming from Anselmo along the way, and vocals that aren’t a million miles away from Mortal Sin vocalist Mat Maurer. This track is a product of its era, and sits superbly alongside those others of the time. Dimebag’s solo nails it as well. A great song, one that is the template for my favourite Pantera songs. "Cemetery Gates" follows, the song that most would say drew them to the band in the first place, and it arguably their most famous track. It has been lauded by critics and fans alike for 35 years, held up as a masterpiece, of both the subtle stylistic changes throughout the song that are weaved together to create this classic tune. It has been compared to great songs of a similar nature from other bands such as “Fade to Black” and “In My Darkest Hour”. The switch between the soft and alluded acoustic beginnings through to the raised electric through the middle of the track, and then collapse back to the opening riff, as Dimebag’s solo steals the show before we finalise with Anselmo’s scream and Dime’s squealing guitar. It is a classic, a song that is a fan favourite – which, as it turns out, I am not a fan of. Go figure. On the other hand, for me "Domination" is perhaps the best song on the album, combining great drumming with a rollicking riff and solo, and vocals that are now showing power and anthemic qualities.
Very similarly we have "Shattered" which continues the good of the album, with Anselmo performing Rob Halford high pitched vocals on cue, and interesting addition to the song. Vinnie Paul's drumwork is outstanding as well.
As we moved into the second half album, we have a change in the quality of the songs. They aren’t awful but they don’t match the quality of the first half of the album. If anything, they are a bit too samey, a similar structure throughout that doesn’t make them unlikeable but just does make them a little LESS likeable. Perhaps, overall, the length of the tracks tends to outstay their welcome.
"Clash With Reality" is a faster and demonstrably heavier track, with the least Dimebag riff of the album, here being one that has none of his usual characteristics and is perhaps a bit on the standard side of things, not something usually levelled at Pantera’s guitarist. "Medicine Man" has a solid main riff and sounds quite heavy and intense, and Rex Brown’s bass riff through the middle is ominously guttural, but the song just feels too long and repetitive by its conclusion. "Message in Blood" has a great opening drum roll collective from Vinnie mixed with the solid guitar riff... and then just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Stuck in a pattern, unable to escape. Dime’s solo is worth the wait, but the rest of the song doesn’t match up. "The Sleep" don't quite meet this standard. Anselmo changes up his vocals again, and not for the better. The stop/start guitar riff is off. There is nothing special here, nothing outstanding, and perhaps we'd have been better off asleep. The closer "The Art of Shredding" restores some order though, as Dimebag showcases his wares in a far more fitting finale to Pantera's best album to this point of their career. Rex’s bass riff opening and underlying Dime’s guitar is a perfect combination of the two, before the song explodes in energy and heaviness. After a bit of averageness over the past few tracks, this closes things off nicely.

I have never been a huge fan of Pantera. I have enjoyed them in small doses, and generally it depends on what album, or what part of what album, I am listening to. They have never been a first choice band for me. My most vivid memory of Pantera is of being on a bus in Sydney on my way home from an evening out, and it was the night Pantera played their first ever gig in Sydney on the Far Beyond Driven tour. There were a lot of metalheads on the bus coming home from the gig, and I asked them how it was, and their replies were enthusiastic to the extreme. I hadn’t gone – I was a casual fan at best then – and indeed never saw them live. But it was obvious from the masses even then that they had tapped a market. But that was another two albums on from this one, and the cult had obviously built up enormously since the release of this album.
I don’t think I have ever bought a Pantera album. As it turns out, I do own them all from this album onwards, but they have all been gifted to me in one way or another. “Cowboys from Hell” came my way by a friend who was whittling down his CD collection and getting rid of albums he didn’t listen to anymore. Never one to say ‘no’ to free music, I was happy to take it off his hands. And it was this copy that I have pulled off the shelves again this week to listen to again for this episode.
It has been an interesting journey. At work, under lowered volume, it passes as background noise which I have barely noticed, except when workplace proximity associates have asked about the horrible noise I am listening to. At home though in the Metal Cavern through the stereo, it has been a pleasant enough experience again. Like I’ve said, I’m not what you would call a fan of Pantera. I had no desire to go and see the rebooted edition with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante when they toured Australia recently. I imagine they play their roles well, but I’m happy to stay on the sidelines. And realistically the only time I would listen to Pantera’s catalogue would be if I am doing an episode of a podcast such as this, or at the request of a guest who has come to my house and when asked what they would like to listen to, they choose Pantera. So my thoughts will not please either fans or deriders of the band or this album. This album is fine. It is probably my favourite of their, before they got seriously into the groove metal thing that they are occasionally credited as having been a part of creating. Aside from that, I have nothing more positive or negative to say about it.
So why did I review it? Well, it is a part of my Music from a Lifetime journey, even if it is a small part. And by doing this, it gives almost everyone the chance to yell at the speakers to me saying “YOU HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE, YOU IDIOT!!” There. Doesn’t that make you feel better?