Pantera
Far Beyond Driven

We are in the first half of the '90s. Even though the music scene is primarily focused on the Grunge scene, metal never gives up, and it is precisely during this period that some of the best metal albums of all time come to life.
It’s impossible not to mention Megadeth (Rust In Peace), Slayer (Seasons In The Abyss), Metallica (Black Album), and Sepultura (Arise). For a couple of years, however, a real tornado has also arrived from Texas, a new group intent on scorching the earth, which immediately gains immense fame with 2 exceptional metal albums like "Cowboys From Hell" and "Vulgar Display Of Power": this is Pantera.

Determination, technique, power, skill, and also speed; Pantera lacks nothing, and in '94 this explosive mix reaches its peak when the 4 Texans showcase to the metal audience "Far Beyon Driven", a fantastic album (like all those labeled Pantera), which on the cover, instead of the usual "Parental Advisory...", should have written: "Warning to posers, 100% pure metal!!!".
There really isn’t a song on the entire album that I would call bad, from the opening "Strength Beyond Strength" to the closing cover of "Planet Caravan" by their masters Black Sabbath, everything goes for the best. Anselmo on the microphone makes everyone envious (and from here on, in my opinion, his slow downward phase will begin), Rex Brown does an incredible job on bass, Diamond Darrel wipes out everything with monstrous riffs, which immediately stick in your head and give an incredible boost (as in "Becoming", "5 Minutes Alone" and "I'm Broken"), concluding his work with magnificent solos in his unique "Diamond Darrel" style, and finally for the drummer Vinnie Paul it’s just confirmations, remaining one of the wizards of his instrument.

In essence, "Far Beyond Driven" is more or less on the same line as the first two albums, and marks the point of fracture between the early Pantera and those closer to the thrash of the subsequent "The Great Southern Trendkill" and "Reinventing The Steel".
All good metalheads, but also fans of good sound in general, absolutely must listen to it.