Another 'Best of' album... I see these as means to make money for a record company (or release an album to fulfill a recording contract or being a farewell song for a band). Pantera have disbanded. Rest in peace. I feel people loved them a lot or loathed them a lot, nothing in between. I will surely miss the band, although two last studio albums were clearly going downhill.

This collection includes songs from five studio albums, from real Pantera period, if you know what I mean. Two cover songs, for some reason, and one own soundtrack song ('Immortally Insane' from 'Heavy Metal 2000' is a boring song) are also included. 'Planet Caravan' by Black Sabbath and 'The Badge' by punk band Poison Idea (from 1994s 'The Crow' soundtrack), are okay, but why not own songs?! The band mixed thrash metal with serious groove and hard rock elements, making it sound all their own, with "fuck you all" attitude. It was huge shredding guitar riffs (Dimebag Darrell), precise rhythms (Vinnie Paul), pounding bass (Rex Brown) and vicious vocals (Phil Anselmo).

'Cowboys from Hell', the title song from 1990 album, is the right thing to start this moshfest. 'Cemetary Gates' is a beautiful slow song, alternating between acoustic and electric parts, showing the both ends of the band's spectrum, and is the longer album version (only right version!). 'Domination' has heavier elements (shredding guitars, double kick drums), that bloomed on their next album, 'Vulgar Display of Power' (1992). 'Mouth for War' is thicker, heavier, angrier and 'Walk' is the same, only slower. 'This Love' is a slow song, but no ballad, which doesn't really fit on this collection. 'Fucking Hostile' is more punky song kicking things into action again. Fantastic 'Far beyond Driven' came out in 1994 and Pantera were advancing like hell. 'Becoming' is a real mosher, with experimenting beats and shrieking guitar. 'I'm Broken' and '5 Minutes Alone' are also real moshers, with experimenting rhythms again. 'Far beyond Driven' was the band's finest hour, in my opinion. 1996 saw the release of 'The Great Southern Trendkill'. The band turned heavier, but lost some of their sharpest bite. 'Drag the Waters' is more heavy metal I guess. And yes, on 'Reinventing the Steel' (2000), the last studio album, the band got more lost. They mixed past gloriest together, but something was missing. 'Where You Come from' is quite boring in this company to tell the truth, although sharper elements are partly back. 'Revolution Is My Name' is probably the best song from 'Reinventing...', but still can't compete with the majority of older material. Most songs have video shot for them, kinda "hit songs", then... I can't complain too much with these choices, except numbers 6, 11, 13, 15 and 16. Better, and more importantly, own, material would have been easy to be found to place these songs. Sound is remastered.

Bonus DVD consists of all promotional videos and two songs shot live at Moscow's Monsters of Rock festival in 1992. All material was released on DVD 'Vulgar Videos from Hell' (1999) earlier, except 'Revolution Is My Name' promo clip, which sound bad, due to a bad mix. On most of the clips the band is playing. 'Cemetery...', 'This...', 'Drag...' and 'Revolution...' have a story line and some acting. The songs can be immediately accessed, unlike on 'Vulgar Videos...', of course. All are enjoyable for any Pantera fan, for sure. A good DVD, if 'Vulgar Videos...' is missing from your Pantera collection. If not, then this is a bit lame...

Journalist Don Kaye (eg. Guitar World) wrote liner notes, short yet comprehensive. Booklet looks good with it few photos. This one is only for Pantera novices or those who collect everything from the band. Average "best of", but DVD is a nice extra. I raise my beer to Pantera.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/05/2004 18:55