THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: Medium
``I don't think any of us realistically thought that No. 1 was a true possibility,'' drummer Vinnie Paul said recently from Boston. ``It was definitely a good feeling and let us know that we do have a lot of really loyal fans that are into the music and were anxious to get the record.''
{REST} The Texas-bred foursome - Paul, his brother guitarist ``Dimebag'' Darrell, bassist Rex and frontman Phil Anselmo - cultivated its fiercely loyal fan base through years of nearly non-stop touring. The group will perform on Thursday evening at Norfolk's Scope on its first headlining tour of arenas and amphitheatres.
``Far Beyond Driven,'' co-directed by Paul and longtime friend/fan/ producer Terry Date, finds Pantera sticking to what it knows best: ruthlessly assaultive heavy metal most appealing to angry, disenchanted youth. Combined with screamer Anselmo's acid-washed, profanity-laced lyrics, Pantera is not for the faint of heart.
``The thing about the lyrics is that they're very honest,'' Paul said. ``The truth is ugly a lot of times. A lot of people turn a cheek to it and try to candy-coat it. When Philip writes his lyrics, he puts them on the table as they are; there's no ifs, ands or buts about it - this is what happened or this is how things happen.''
A few of the album's tracks reveal Pantera stretching out, particularly ``Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills,'' a dense collage of screams and noise strata reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails. The song was more of an accident than an experiment, Paul says.
``We were leaving the studio (late one night) - everybody was completely smashed - and I went out and was just kind of messing around on the drums. Everybody loved the drum groove, so they came in and we started jamming to it. We said, `Look, let's record this thing right now, leave it two and a half minutes and just make it crazy.' ''
The album closes with the trippy, bongo-embellished Black Sabbath tune ``Planet Caravan,'' the gentlest Pantera offering to date. Originally recorded for a Sabbath tribute album but bumped because of ``record company politics,'' Paul says, the acoustic cut ``is a great way to end the record after being smashed in the face 11 times.''
To wax ``Far Beyond Driven,'' Pantera trekked to the last place on Earth one would expect to find a metal band, Nashville, Tenn. Music City's distraction-free setting actually wasn't that unlikely a choice, Paul said, given the band's ties to the country music world. Paul's and Darrell's father is a veteran country songwriter who's penned material for the likes of Emmylou Harris, among others.
Though Paul admits a current fondness for Dwight Yoakam, growing up ``I was always into rock 'n' roll - KISS, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath - and my dad was always looking at me crazy. Then he'd tell me, `OK, I get it, because my mom and dad looked at me crazy when I listened to Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.''
And while Pantera occupies all of Paul's time these days, the drummer wouldn't mind trying out the producer's chair on some other projects, he said.
``One of these days, whenever there comes a time when (Pantera's) not happening any more . . . I'd love to be the next Terry Date. I wouldn't mind producing Prong's next record. I'd love to work with Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) on something.'' by CNB