Maps of Music

Far Beyond Driven (1994)

Where the lyrics of Far Beyond Driven take you, and where it was really made.

Pantera's fastest-selling album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but the record label rejected its original cover.

Key places

Recorded in Nashville (1994)

Recording site Nashville — The album's recording studio is listed as Abtrax Recording in Nashville, Tennessee. The point shows the city centre, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mixed in Dallas (1994)

Recording site Luminous Sound — The album was mixed at Dallas Sound Lab in Dallas, Texas, according to the Discogs credits. The point shows the city centre, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Far Beyond Driven: seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera
• Released March 1994 on East West Records (UK March 21, international March 22)
• First Pantera album to credit guitarist Darrell Abbott as 'Dimebag Darrell'
• Japanese and Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection editions add a bonus thirteenth track, 'The Badge', a Poison Idea cover

Background

• Preceded by 1992 breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power
• Band went through turmoil in the two years after that album's release
• Vocalist Phil Anselmo suffered ruptured discs and chronic pain from degenerative disc disease
• Anselmo drank heavily and abused painkillers and muscle relaxants during this period

Recording

• Band tuned lower than on previous albums; 'Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks' goes as low as C♯ standard
• Many songs, such as '5 Minutes Alone', feature double-tracked and layered vocals from Anselmo
• Recording studio: Abtrax Recording in Nashville, Tennessee
• Mixed at Dallas Sound Lab in Dallas
• Production credited to Terry Date and Vinnie Paul, with co-production and arranging by Pantera

Cover

• Original cover showed a drill going into a person; the record label rejected it
• Label feared it would harm sales and be refused by stores such as Walmart and Target
• Band changed it to a drill going into a human skull
• Both covers were created by photographer Dean Karr

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Pantera is an American heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas, in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul.
• The band started as a glam metal act and was originally named Gemini, then Eternity, before settling on Pantera.
• Rex Brown joined on bass in 1982 and Phil Anselmo became vocalist in 1986, forming the best-known lineup.

Members

• The best-known lineup was the Abbott brothers with Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo.
• Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage in December 2004; Vinnie Paul died of heart failure in June 2018.
• Currently the band features Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante.

Career

• The band pioneered and popularized groove metal in the 1990s with Cowboys from Hell (1990) and Vulgar Display of Power (1992).
• Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Pantera disbanded in 2003 and reunited with a new lineup in 2022, touring the world since.
• The band has sold around 20 million records worldwide and received four Grammy nominations.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album received positive reviews.
• Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars.
• Spin wrote in April 1994 that the quartet had transformed into a cross between the older, faster Metallica and today's Rollins Band, and that Phil Anselmo was at times as charismatic as Henry Rollins.
• AllMusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia took a more negative view, arguing the album's chart success reflected its predecessor Vulgar Display of Power more than its own qualities.

Reappraisal

• Rolling Stone later ranked the album No. 39 on its list 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time'.
• Guitar World ranked it number six on its top ten list of guitar albums of 1994 (published November 2011).
• Guitar World also placed it at number twenty on its 'Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994' list.

Records

• Pantera's fastest-selling album, it peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200 upon release.
• Certified Platinum by the RIAA in the United States.
• Certified Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
• By March 1994, more than 185,000 copies had sold.
• Also reached No. 1 on the Australian charts upon release.
• Remained on the Billboard 200 for 29 weeks.
• Shane Mehling of Decibel called it the first extreme metal record to reach that level of popularity.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Japanese and Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection editions carry the bonus track 'The Badge', a Poison Idea cover that was also featured on The Crow soundtrack.
• The Pantera album was released in the UK on March 21, 1994 and internationally on March 22, its first on East West Records.
• The tour ended in March 1995 with another run through the United States, with Type O Negative opening.
• The Abbott brothers got into a scuffle with journalists from the music magazine Kerrang! at a Monsters of Rock festival on June 4, 1994.
• The 2014 two-disc deluxe edition marked the album's 20th anniversary, with disc two a live set from the 1994 Monsters of Rock festival.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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