Pantera - Far Beyond Driven - 20th Anniversary Edition (LP)

Not since the last asteroid collision with planet Earth untold eons ago has there been an apocalyptic event to equal the musical Krakatoa that is Pantera's FAR BEYOND DRIVEN. Walking a stylistic line somewhere between the melodious crunch pop of Metallica and the punkish thrashorama of Helmet, Pantera channels their raging energy into songs that function as aural letter-bombs from hell--designed to detonate in your face. Never have records quite as rude as FAR BEYOND DRIVEN (or Nine Inch Nail's THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL) broken out at #1 on the Top 200 of Billboard's pop charts. There must be a reason. Immerse yourself in the first single off of FAR BEYOND DRIVEN, the thrashing "I'm Broken," and you'll get a good idea as to the method behind Pantera's madness--and what makes them such trendsetters in the thermonuclear epoch after heavy metal, speed metal and thrash have run their course. The arrangement opens with a classic Led Zeppelin rifforama (almost a blues figure); then they ride along