Type: Contains explicit content, Lyrics are included with the album
Genre: Rock
Review
Far Beyond Driven may have been Pantera's fastest selling album upon release, but it's hardly their best. In fact, although it shot straight to the number one spot on the Billboard sales chart in its first week (arguably the most extreme album ever to do so), this incredible feat doesn't so much reflect its own qualities as those of its predecessor, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power. A true landmark by any definition, Vulgar Display had seen the Texan quartet quite literally reinventing the heavy metal wheel in ways not seen since Metallica's rise to fame in the mid-'80s. But when the time came to follow it up, the members of Pantera seemed unsure about how they could possibly top it, so they decided to try and out-heavy themselves, resulting in a less cohesive record which often sacrificed songwriting for outright aggression. Guitarist Dimebag Darrell (recently re-baptized from the far more glam Diamond Darrell) took it upon himself to conjure the heaviest guitar tones imaginable, turning up the volume and dissonance to sometimes painful thresholds with his massive, grinding riffs. As a result, songs like "Becoming," "Shedding Skin," and the particularly vicious "Slaughtered" still stand head and shoulders above most of the heavy metal competition, but only die-hard fans may be able to withstand their systematic sensory bludgeoning long enough to get to the hooks hidden underneath. Indeed, except for wisely chosen first single "I'm Broken," the rest of the material (and especially over-long tracks like "5 Minutes Alone" and "25 Years") generally lacks the iron-fisted discipline and controlled power captured on the band's previous triumphs. Worst of all is probably "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills," which wanders aimlessly in formless feedback and is topped with vocalist Phil Anselmo in gratuitous, stream-of-consciousness mode -- a sketchy proposition at the best of times. In the end, it's probably the band's need to justifying their faithful cover version of Black Sabbath's gentle "Planet Caravan" in the album's liner notes that sheds the most light on their embattled frame of mind at the time. With or without this evidence, however, the bottom line is that Far Beyond Driven doesn't match the hype -- but it sure proved its weight in platinum at the bank. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Pantera (Main Performer), Terry Date (Producer), Terry Date (Engineer), Vinnie Paul (Drums), Vinnie Paul (Producer), Vinnie Paul (Engineer), Phil Anselmo (Vocals), Diamond Darrell (Guitar), Rex Brown (Bass)
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. [1]
The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) was quickly replaced with a new image, depicting a skull impaled with a drill bit. Copies of the original version with the banned artwork are now quite rare and fetch high prices in record stores and in auctions.
Far Beyond Driven took Pantera's music to an even heavier and more extreme style than on previous releases; 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 style.
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 apart from 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 Videos 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.
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, then 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."
