Far Beyond Driven was Pantera’s seventh studio album. Written by a Groove metal band from Texas in 1994, the producers of this album are Terry Date, Vinie Paul, and co-producer Pantera. This album would release on March 22, 1994, ranking platinum, first on the Billboard 200, with 1.5 million copies sold.
The band Pantera is a legendary groove metal band that was formed in the late 80s and started as a glam metal band inspired by bands like Van Halen. Going from spandex to baggy clothes, the bad got heavier as time went on every year. The vocalist Phil Anselmo is known for his voice in metal, it started with crazy high-pitched screams, and as time went on, it got lower and heavier with each album. The guitarist Dimebag Darrel shredding at the age of twelve was inspired by Ace Frehley and Eddie van Halen, Dime was known for his high gain tone, squeals with his Floyd Rose, pinch harmonics, amazing soloing skills, and his crushing heavy riffs known as one of the most inspiration and best metal guitarist in metal history. Rex brown, the bassist, is an icon in metal and had a great connection with the guitarist that can be seen in their stage performance, like when playing Walk they would face each other playing the riff together, really showing the bond of the metal legends. And lastly, Vinie Paul, the drummer, is also the brother of the guitarist, the brothers started by playing Smoke on the Water together, and the music career took off from there, Vinie is known for being one of the best metal drummers and the iconic sound of the double kick drums. Unlike other metal bands at this time, Pantera would get heavier and heavier every single album they released. This band wasn’t about trends, they were only focused on good music and good times with everything they did. It didn’t take long for this to be a local Texas band in clubs to touring the world with some of the best metal songs ever written.
Far Beyond Driven was yet another Pantera album that was different from their last and heavier, something they’re known for. This album was heavy all the way through, with only one and a half of the songs having a clean tone, everything else being distortion/high gain riddled. This album shows the raw power that they show through music and gives off Pantera’s well-known stronger than all attitude. The first track is Strength Beyond Strength, just calling out everyone and proving Pantera runs the metal scene, with the fast riffs, then going into a slow breakdown, and a spine-chilling solo, it’s just the best way to start a metal album. The next track hitting even harder with Becoming starting it off with a groovy drum beat, then to one of the best guitar riffs ever written due to the chugs combined with a high pitch squeal from Dimes digitech whammy pedal that makes you want to head bang. And the lyrics are about the singer seeing a lot of true potential in himself at the time and how he’s progressing, then writing the lyrics for Becoming. 5 Minutes Alone of course heavy riffs throughout but what sticks out to me is the songs meaning, it was written about how a fan lied saying the singer beat up a hating fan when it was the other people in the crowd, then his dad filed a lawsuit and talking to Phils manager saying “i would like five minutes alone with that Phil Anselmo guy.” I’m Borken is a little bit sowed down but just as heavy hitting, and the lyrics were reflecting on Phil Anselmo’s back pains due to an injury in the mid nineties, for the first time he felt weak with this pain then deciding to write this song. The one song on the album with a clean tone was the last topping off the album while finishing up recording it, it was a cover of Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan, after all these these songs you can just chill out to Black Sabbath Which was perfect for a break at the live shows and showed respect to the founders of metal music. I think when this album was released, everyone knew Pantera was not going with any trends and kept progressing in new ways, knowing they weren’t stopping anytime soon.If you want something heavy and legendary, go listen to this album. I think it’s the best album from Pantera and all of metal history. Get a feel of Pantera stronger than all attitude and go jam to Far Beyond Driven.
