Pantera - Far Beyond Driven (1994) (2014, 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition)

Posted By: apocalipsys2014

Date: Nov. 12, 2014

To many, as I have observed, Far Beyond Driven is not a solid Pantera album. The criticisms I have heard are that the album is too far removed from the Cowboys from Hell/Vulgar Display of Power sound, or that it is not as consistent as The Great Sothern Trendkill or Reinventing the Steel. While each argument certainly has bearing, I feel that there is a certain necessity to Far Beyond Driven that bridges the gap between the two sounds. In fact, Far Beyond Driven is just that: a bridge album. Certainly, it deviates from the Cowboys from Hell sound, and it does not have the same power as The Great Sothern Trendkill, but in its own right, the sound of songs like “Becoming,” “I’m Broken,” and “Five Minutes Alone” opens the door for that alteration from one well known and certainly appreciated sound to another.

One particular difference in sound is Phil Anselmo’s scream vocals. The guy’s singing on his first two albums with the band is amazing and added a level of force that helped establish Pantera as a powerhouse act. With Far Beyond Driven, he takes his vocals to the next level. This transformation is evident in the less consistent “Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills.” Now, this was my first Pantera album, and, admittedly, I did not care for Pantera or metal when I bought it. This was the album that changed all that. That being established, I pretty much skip over this song when it comes on. Its greatest value is in Anslemo’s use of screeching vocals during the chorus. This is the first song that exemplifies this particular style for him, and he only develops it further with the following two albums and to much greater affect. Songs like “The Great Sothern Trendkill” (title track from the album of the same name), and “I’ll Cast a Shadow” (one of my personal favorites) display similar vocalizations in more structured and much more appreciated songs.

Another alteration the band makes through this album is Dimebag Darrel’s guitar work. His speed riffs (known well by those who favor Cowboys from Hell) are traded in for a heavier, thrashier sound. Where once his riffs were the speed and clarity heard in “Domination,” they are now the heavy shrieking sound heard in “Becoming,” a song that is fitting for this transitional album and easily my favorite song both from this album and Pantera’s overall catalogue. This banshee sound continues throughout the following albums, notably in Reinventing the Steel’s “Goddamn Electric” and “You’ve Got to Belong to It,” while the heavy riffing is abound in almost all subsequent songs from Far Beyond Driven. In fact, Dime’s heavy riffs are the one consistency found in Far Beyond Driven, which, while it gives it its strength, it is also the albums weakness.

Far Beyond Driven is definitely Pantera’s least consistent and weakest album, yet it remains a staple in their discography as it represents a change, a becoming from one great sound to another. Its value as an album is therefore important, and many of the songs on the album, most songs in my opinion, are excellent. Certainly, the two follow albums are much better for a myriad of reasons, but this album is, again, a bridge. It is not the finished product of the change. It IS the change.

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Phil Anselmo
Guitars : Dimebag Darrell
Bass : Rex Brown
Drums : Vinnie Paul

All songs written & arranged by Pantera except 'Planet Caravan' be Black sabbath
Producer, engineered and mixed by Terry Date and Vinnie Paul
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC

CD1 - Far Beyond Driven:

01. Strength Beyond Strength [3:39]
02. Becoming [3:06]
03. 5 Minutes Alone [5:48]
04. I'm Broken [4:25]
05. Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills [2:53]
06. Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks [7:01]
07. Slaughtered [3:57]
08. 25 Years [6:06]
09. Shedding Skin [5:38]
10. Use My Third Arm [4:52]
11. Throes of Rejection [5:01]
12. Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath cover) [3:57]

CD2 - Live From Donington '94:

01. Use My Third Arm 4:05
02. Walk 5:16
03. Strength Beyond Strength [4:02]
04. Domination / Hollow [6:54]
05. Slaughtered [3:57]
06. Fucking Hostile [2:58]
07. This Love [7:16]
08. Mouth for War [4:02]
09. Cowboys from Hell [4:50]

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 30. October 2014, 15:18

Pantera / Far Beyond Driven (20th Anniversary Edition)

Used drive : HL-DT-STBD-RE GGW-H20L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:38.65 | 0 | 16414
2 | 3:38.65 | 3:05.72 | 16415 | 30361
3 | 6:44.62 | 5:48.14 | 30362 | 56475
4 | 12:33.01 | 4:25.01 | 56476 | 76351
5 | 16:58.02 | 2:52.59 | 76352 | 89310
6 | 19:50.61 | 7:01.37 | 89311 | 120922
7 | 26:52.23 | 3:57.35 | 120923 | 138732
8 | 30:49.58 | 6:05.68 | 138733 | 166175
9 | 36:55.51 | 5:37.42 | 166176 | 191492
10 | 42:33.18 | 4:52.17 | 191493 | 213409
11 | 47:25.35 | 5:01.14 | 213410 | 235998
12 | 52:26.49 | 3:57.07 | 235999 | 253780

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Users\iSmrnv\Desktop\Новая папка (2)\Pantera - Far Beyond Driven (20th Anniversary Edition).wav

Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 7.5 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 73C47A65
Copy CRC 73C47A65
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [67743661] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [90DD9763] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [4BA43F8C] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [36F57B06] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [D6777D98] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [1E4F04B3] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [A6A9683B] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [4FDB7F6F] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [6BE0D5F0] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [0B229826] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [41851700] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 5) [DAF2A293] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.3

[CTDB TOCID: M0oTZqw2DzZDgoGy5EwkBdCVduk-] found, Submit result: M0oTZqw2DzZDgoGy5EwkBdCVduk- has been confirmed
[707422de] (19/19) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 802CFE3358493838F136079C7F89B8EEE32E3282FD7011AAA564B620863587AD ====

=======================================================================================

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 30. October 2014, 15:43

Pantera / Far Beyond Bootleg - Live From Donington '94

Used drive : HL-DT-STBD-RE GGW-H20L Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:04.62 | 0 | 18361
2 | 4:04.62 | 5:15.71 | 18362 | 42057
3 | 9:20.58 | 4:01.65 | 42058 | 60197
4 | 13:22.48 | 6:54.02 | 60198 | 91249
5 | 20:16.50 | 3:57.12 | 91250 | 109036
6 | 24:13.62 | 2:57.52 | 109037 | 122363
7 | 27:11.39 | 7:16.22 | 122364 | 155085
8 | 34:27.61 | 4:01.69 | 155086 | 173229
9 | 38:29.55 | 4:49.57 | 173230 | 194961

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Users\iSmrnv\Desktop\Новая папка (2)\Disc 2 - Far Beyond Bootleg - Live From Donington '94\Pantera - Far Beyond Bootleg - Live From Donington '94.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 7.1 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7CCDF80B
Copy CRC 7CCDF80B
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [01091472] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [DE9C6CFE] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [51AA187F] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [36EBD27B] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [7AA3825F] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [7D071B82] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [843A0850] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [9B92CCF4] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F72480BA] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.3

[CTDB TOCID: aYYcCLAnCM2zG3cMyyGtcsviXlg-] found, Submit result: aYYcCLAnCM2zG3cMyyGtcsviXlg- has been confirmed
[49ea5fe9] (19/19) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 223824ED5B65732A922B88D0847F9D3F98A2DC3C741643BF2EFD00E3B6E19A21 ====

Not my rip, not my scan-job. Thx very much to the original uploader iSmrnv!
5% WinRar Recovery Record for all files.
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