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Power Metal is their best album. Driven and Vulgar both rate pretty low for me.
The ghost of NTNR is still with us, I see... Power Metal is nowhere near their best, it's like a weaker and more derivative version of Cowboys. Next you'll be saying that Projects In The Jungle is a lost masterpiece. Driven and Vulgar are my favorites by a long shot, their most original work, and Far Beyond Driven is the stronger of the two for my money.
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The ghost of NTNR is still with us, I see... Power Metal is nowhere near their best, it's like a weaker and more derivative version of Cowboys. Next you'll be saying that Projects In The Jungle is a lost masterpiece. Driven and Vulgar are my favorites by a long shot, their most original work, and Far Beyond Driven is the stronger of the two for my money.
I actually like Power Metal better than CFH, and any of their other albums for that matter, save maybe The Great Southern Trendkill. It's almost like a lost Judas Priest album, with killer riffs and vocals, and none of the lame tough guy posturing they would later adopt. Vulgar is like Pantera at their lowest common denominator, stripping aside everything for extremely blunt goofiness, but they improved on that formula with Driven and Trendkill, which was the pinnacle of sincerity with that sound for them IMO.
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I actually like Power Metal better than CFH' date=' and any of their other albums for that matter, save maybe The Great Southern Trendkill. It's almost like a lost Judas Priest album, with killer riffs and vocals, and none of the lame tough guy posturing they would later adopt. Vulgar is like Pantera at their lowest common denominator, stripping aside everything for extremely blunt goofiness, but they improved on that formula with Driven and Trendkill, which was the pinnacle of sincerity with that sound for them IMO.[/quote'] I prefer the tough guy shtick to the cheese of Power Metal (and even Cowboys for that matter). There's something honest about it; you're getting a picture of Phil overcompensating to cope with his daddy issues. There's no need to take it at face value. I think it might come down to our genre preferences. I can hear the Priest comparison; it's not something I like, particularly. There's a decent amount of energy on the album, but nothing like what they'd bring in later on, and despite some really good musicianship and decent production, the songs are spruced-up retreads that could have been written in the previous decade. I can understand that you'd like that style better than the style of their later material, but aside from getting faster, darker, and heavier, they also really started speaking with their own voice, especially from Vulgar on. Phil's vocal arrangements and his ability to craft hooks just got better and better. I think his lyrics are dumb as bricks, but the sheer sonic impact of his tone and rhythm choices is undeniable, not to mention that the guitar work became far more unique. Driven can't be topped in that regard, for my money. I like a lot of the songs on Trendkill, but as I've said here before, it doesn't hold together as well as an album for me. It's where they started running out of steam.
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  • 6 months later...

Pantera was a pretty great band and although they wrought a lot of crap in the form of overly masculine frat boy metal that came afterwards, they are still one of my favorites. One of the best rhythm sections in metal history. I really love bands that keep the rhythm going even when the lead guitar is in solo. And I really like bands that work the guitar around the music and not vice versa. I don't like absolute silents from the rhythm section so a pretentious little douche can play an overly technical series of scales at about two minutes and thirty seconds into a song.

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  • 10 months later...
On 2/28/2015 at 10:42 PM, GratuitousTK said:

Pantera was a pretty great band and although they wrought a lot of crap in the form of overly masculine frat boy metal that came afterwards, they are still one of my favorites. One of the best rhythm sections in metal history. I really love bands that keep the rhythm going even when the lead guitar is in solo. And I really like bands that work the guitar around the music and not vice versa. I don't like absolute silents from the rhythm section so a pretentious little douche can play an overly technical series of scales at about two minutes and thirty seconds into a song.

Couldn't have put it better myself! Nothing more boring than a band that only focuses on guitar work (in my opinion) and everything else has to just sit in the background and praise them. Don't get me wrong, I love good guitar work but scales I find boring as hell. Dime did an awesome job of being able to make a melody sing out even during a solo for sure.

Definitely an all time fav. for me and still find it hard to find a band I love as much.

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  • 2 months later...

Pantera is my favourite metal band of all time.

Funnily enough, I bought "far beyond driven" when I was really into Guns N' Roses, and just because I liked the cover.

Man, the first time I listened to this album, I didn't like it. I found it too brutal for me at the time. And I hated the guitar tone (too screetchy).

Then later on, I started listening to the album again, and surprisingly got really into the drumming which I thought was so different to what I had been listening to so far. And with time, I started loving the guitar playing (but still didn't like the tone) and the general groove of the song. And eventually, I loved the whole package (the brutality, the music, the singing).

FBD is my favourite Pantera album, but I really like them all. And musically, it was so ground breaking... Dimebag is my favourite guitarist of all time. Genius riffs (playing a lot on rhythm), amazing soloing (very soulful and bluesy). Only recently did I start appreciating the contribution of Rex, by listening to Kill Devil Hill, where you can recognise that riffage, and that "pantera touch".

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I have never heard "Power Metal". True story me. I adored "Cowboys..." when it came out but nowadays "Far, Beyond, Driven" is the only album I revisit. "Vulgar..."would be a close second in any list and I had lost all interest by ".....Trendkill"!

"FBD" just feels darker and more menacing than the other albums for me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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41 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

I have never heard "Power Metal". True story me. I adored "Cowboys..." when it came out but nowadays "Far, Beyond, Driven" is the only album I revisit. "Vulgar..."would be a close second in any list and I had lost all interest by ".....Trendkill"!

"FBD" just feels darker and more menacing than the other albums for me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't get the love for Power Metal, to my ears it's like a cheesy Cowboys without the energy. I mostly agree with you, FBD is my favorite by far, but there's some cool stuff on Trendkill.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 11 months later...

The first time I heard Pantera was in 1994 and I remember it clearly. I was in a music class at school and someone put 'I'm Broken' on the stereo. It sounded so fresh and exciting, and so groovy. Great moment in time with lots of good albums coming out like 'Burn My Eyes' and later 'Demanufacture'. 

Can't say I'm the biggest Pantera fan, or even really a fan at all. My favourite album of theirs is 'The Great Southern Trendkill' due to the slow songs and the title track, although 'Vulgar' is a great album too. I find 'Far Beyond Driven' to be a bit one dimensional in relation to that production. Planet Caravan is an inspired choice for cover. 

I saw them live in 1996 but Biohazard opened and killed them. 

In Australia they represent sort of the worst - dumbest - end of metal fandom unfortunately. 

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I picked up streams of "Cowboys..." and "Vulgar..." recently and they haven't aged well, containing a lot of filler that teenage Macabre obviously skipped not realising this was evidence that the albums weren't that great overall.  I played "Far..." back end of last year and recall it had held up much better.  Interesting mention of "Burn My Eyes" in there as I still play that and think it has stood the test of time better.

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1 hour ago, MacabreEternal said:

I picked up streams of "Cowboys..." and "Vulgar..." recently and they haven't aged well, containing a lot of filler that teenage Macabre obviously skipped not realising this was evidence that the albums weren't that great overall.  I played "Far..." back end of last year and recall it had held up much better.  Interesting mention of "Burn My Eyes" in there as I still play that and think it has stood the test of time better.

‘Burn My Eyes’ is great. Back in 1994 there was a lot of mystique around the band too. I remember reading about them in a magazine before I heard them and imagining what ‘Old’ and ‘Davidian’ might sound like. Really good album.

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53 minutes ago, Requiem said:

‘Burn My Eyes’ is great. Back in 1994 there was a lot of mystique around the band too. I remember reading about them in a magazine before I heard them and imagining what ‘Old’ and ‘Davidian’ might sound like. Really good album.

They certainly faded as a group quicker than Pantera and only really got back on their feet with "The Blackening" in my opinion.  Not they will ever top "Burn..." but who wants that to happen anyway?

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On 07/10/2017 at 7:30 PM, MacabreEternal said:

They certainly faded as a group quicker than Pantera and only really got back on their feet with "The Blackening" in my opinion.  Not they will ever top "Burn..." but who wants that to happen anyway?

The last I heard from them was ‘The Burning Red’ when Robb bleached and spiked his hair and wore baggy pants...

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On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 1:43 AM, Requiem said:

The first time I heard Pantera was in 1994 and I remember it clearly. I was in a music class at school and someone put 'I'm Broken' on the stereo. It sounded so fresh and exciting, and so groovy. Great moment in time with lots of good albums coming out like 'Burn My Eyes' and later 'Demanufacture'. 

Can't say I'm the biggest Pantera fan, or even really a fan at all. My favourite album of theirs is 'The Great Southern Trendkill' due to the slow songs and the title track, although 'Vulgar' is a great album too. I find 'Far Beyond Driven' to be a bit one dimensional in relation to that production. Planet Caravan is an inspired choice for cover. 

I saw them live in 1996 but Biohazard opened and killed them. 

In Australia they represent sort of the worst - dumbest - end of metal fandom unfortunately. 

Wow..that ending sounds a tad snobby.  I was planning a trip to Australia but I guess I will have to leave my Pantera collection home :D 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

man, I remember being at work in fall of 91 and one of the guys put a tape in the boom box and just said "check this out"...the first strains of Cowboys From Hell came on, and we all instantly started moshing...in the kitchen...at the restaurant we worked in. It was definitely life changing.

Saw them later that spring in a the same club where Dime would be killed years later (isn't that wierd?). My bands had always played thee, so we knew security. they let us in during load in and sound check and we got to meet them all. They were still touring in an old grey van with a trailer. We helped them load in. After sound check, Phil, Dime and some of the crew headed to Ohio States campus to find pot. Rex, Vinnie, my two freinds and some of the other crew walked to a Denny's to get food. We f-ing ate dinner with the rhythm section of Pantera!!! Vinnie put down 2 Grand Slam's!!

The show that night was awesome...there were only 75-100 people there, so the group was having lots of fun. Taking requests....at the end, Phil got on drums and Vinnie came out and sang, and they did about an hour of half-assing numerous cover songs...at the end, we helped them load out and they were on their way to the next hotel...

2 months later the Cemetery Gates video hit MTV, and the rest is history.

 

Fast forward 12 years later...Damage Plan is playing the same club, and my band is supposed to open up for them that night. We had to turn down the show b/c our singer at the time could not get child-care. The rest of us still went to the show, and then it happened....one of the most surreal and f-ed up nights of my life!!! I was not a huge fan od Damage Plan, but Pantera had definitely redefined my view on heavy groove. 

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