When i had the choice one day a few years ago (maybe a year or so after Dimebag Darrell was killed), i contomplated on getting into Pantera, but wasn't sure if i should get the best of CD or buy them individually. I decided on the albums starting with Vulgar Display of Power, since i was familar with "Walk" and "this love". But what got me to buy the album is the song "fucking hostile". It sounded like a kick ass song title, and it wasn't on the best of cd.

Anyways, a couple of days ago i picked up "Cowboys From Hell", and am wondering if the other 3 albums "Far Beyond Driven", "the Great Southern Treadkill" and "Reinventing the Steel". I have heard that the final 2 aren't tht good, mainly because of band tensions and Phil's frequent drug use.

Reinventing the Steel is pretty darned good.

I don't have the other two, so I couldn't say about those (although I heard Far Beyond Driven when it came out and I hated the production - the kick drums sound like shit - so I just couldn't get into it).

Far Beyond Driven is worth picking up for "Strength Beyond Strength" alone.

"Shedding Skin" is pretty good too and "I'm Broken" is like "Walk Pt. 2." I have The Great Southern Trendkill and it's alright but I have only heard Reinventing the Steel a couple of times.

What?! No love for Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle, I Am the Night, or Power Metal?

Far Beyond Driven is fricking awesome. I'd consider it a must buy
Great Southern Trendkill, I'd put as the weakest of the "first" four, but still excellent. Suicide Note, and Thirteen Steps are worth the price of admission alone.

Reinventing the Steel never grew on me. It just sounded like they were going in different directions already. IMO, it's skippable.

Personally, I've never seen copies of their actual first albums (back when they were glam-metal wannabes....and I'm going to keep it that way)

All of Pantera's albums are unique and amazing in their own ways. Don't listen to one album expecting the same thing after another. In my opinion Pantera is metal, and has some of the most memorable songs and riffs in metal history. No matter what album you ask about, they're all still more memorable than a good percentage of what gets put out today.

The Great Southern Trendkill is my favorite Pantera Album.

For some real fun, why don't you try getting their first 3 albums! They were like a Van Halen party band!

I asked Vinnie about a possible rerelease of these at the Family Values tour and he said that they make great collectors items and thats about it.

their live album is pretty good too

Found this on youtube and found it somewhat amusing
Pantera "Power Metal" in full on glam mode NSFW
<embed width="425" height="350"src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxwRq8AchlY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" </embed>

"Far Beyond Driven" IMO is there best work by far, it's the only cd of Pantera i own don't really care for the rest of there stuff, (although there early 80's glam stuff intrigues me, will have to give a listen) also from the "Detroit Rock City" soundtrack they did a really great job covering Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever".

Short answer: EVERY fucking Pantera album is worth owning. Actually, they OWN you.

The first three Pantera albums (CFH, VDP, and FBD) are essential.

The others aren't as good as the first three but they're still strong entries. Pantera never put out a St. Anger.

Those aren't the first three Pantera albums.

The first three Pantera albums are:

Metal Magic (featuring the classics "Ride My Rocket", "Sad Lover", and "Rock Out")
Projects In The Jungle (featuring "Heavy Metal Rules" and "Only A Heartbeat Away")
I Am The Night ("Hot And Heavy", "Onward We Rock", and "Come-On Eyes")

I believe "Power Metal" is also from their party metal period.

It is, but at least Phil's on that one.

The first 4 Pantera albums

http://www.heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bi...i?BandNum=1643

Yeah. Like I said, there's some good stuff on there. Very different from when they changed and became famous (some people would say "sold out"... they certainly made more money being a heavy, intense band than being a party band).

I like Reinventing the Steel, Far Beyond Driven kicks ass, and I haven't really listened to the other one.

Power Metal was hardly a "glam" album. It's pretty darned heavy in a Judas Priest Painkiller kind of way.

The first three albums have SOME songs that lean in a glam direction, but also have a lot of great straightforward 80's metal on them.

They may have LOOKED a bit like a glam band, but they didn't SOUND like one. It's a common misconception about that period for Pantera. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that the song, "Projects in the Jungle" is as good as anything they've ever done!

I understand completely though, why it is they decided not to recognize the first 4 albums. MAYBE power metal is the exception, but the first three are nothing like Cowboys and beyond and if you listen to Power Metal and CFH back to back they sound vaguely alike(extremely vaguely). When they got signed to a "major" label they took a completely different direction musically. They should have probably changed thier name.

thats why i could never get into the last two cds.

love em all except for Reinventing the Steel. It seemed a little recycled and forced to me. I love Trendkill. My favorite pick. It is anger! Yet it can still bring it down a notch on tracks like Suicide Note part one. But I will say that disc isn't for everyone. Another option is to check out the live album 101 Proof. It has a good overview of tracks and is more accurate representation to me than the Best of disc.

The only two Pantera albums I really like are CfH and VDoP (although Power Metal isn't all that bad). For some reason I just never got into Far Beyond Driven. Like every metal head in Dallas at the time, I bought it the day it came out, but I sold it a month or two later. There's something about that album and everything that came after that just really turned me off to the band. Not sure why.