Far Beyond Driven - Pantera

I love drinking beer and listening to Pan-f***ing- tera and this is one of my favourite albums. The main reason for this, apart from some killer songs, is the production. This album is without doubt one of the heaviest, most brutal albums ever made. Nothing modern has ever really come close. Songs like 5 minutes alone, Shedding Skin, Slaughtered and 25 years blow the speakers apart, make the room shake and, when you crank the volume up, spreads a big s*** eating, evil grin across your face. It's hard to put into words exactly how nasty and heavy this sounds. Obviously, this sound would be wasted if the riffs weren't any good and the songs were'nt brutal ...  Read the complete review

Pantera are back! However, this album isn’t really anything new. Yeah, there are some top songs such as Becoming and 5 Minutes Alone, but on the whole, there isn’t much here that the band haven’t already done before! This album is exactly the same as everything the band has pumped out since the early 90’s. It’s not a bad album by any means, but a bit more originality wouldn’t have gone amiss! Tracks like I’m Broken and Slaughtered, while both blinding tracks, do make you feel as if Pantera have run out of ideas! The album is perhaps saved by the strength of a few songs, but the rest is in general mediocre. The cover of ...  Read the complete review

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. A rather underrated Pantera album with no real hit singles. Still this album is has some great songs. This album is a harder version of “A Vulgar Abuse of Power“. Seeing that most people thought of “A Vulgar Display of Power” as the best Pantera album. I mean it’s true that Vulgar had catchy riffs and songs but for some strange reason I prefer this album more. It’s just got a string of great songs just none that really stick out. They do a cover of a Black Sabbath song that ends this great CD and some of their best works. Track 1: Strength beyond strength This song starts ...  Read the complete review

I challenge any of todays so-called "metal" bands to try and throw a rock at the hard-hitting, skull-crushing tunes of Far Beyond Driven. The good thing about Pantera is that they realize that power and weight can easily surpass that of speed and noise. Loud and brutish as Far Beyond Driven is, it's also musical, well constructed, and passionate. Many a speed-metal band would do well to learn from Pantera. I got it the first day it came out six years ago and wasn't expecting to be hit with the HEAVIEST song Pantera has ever done, Strength Beyond Strength. They flirt with death metal on Slaughtered, industrial on Good Friends and a Bottle of ...  Read the complete review

Straight outta Texas, riding in on a fire-breathing hot-rod pumping with high-octane power metal, the original cowboys from Hell are back with Far Beyond Driven, their third full dose of angst-riddled mayhem. Ever since Pantera revamped its lineup and set the speeding wheels in motion with the seminal Cowboys From Hell, the band has burned with street-level hunger, striving to be heavier, more dynamic and more vicious with every step. Far Beyond Driven is what the name implies, a wired, raging beast of a disc with an impact like a fist through a plate glass window. Shards of guitar slice and cleave, forceful rhythms pummel with blunt precision and screams of pain and ...  Read the complete review