The Great Southern Trendkill:
The Great Southern Trendkill is the eighth studio album from Pantera, released on May 7, 1996 through EastWest Records. Its total length is 53:05. The band's lineup remained the same as on their last album, with vocalist Phil Anselmo, guitarist Dimebag Darrell, bassist Rex Brown, and drummer Vinnie Paul.
On this release, Pantera uses aggression and heavy lyricism in order to attempt to kill the trend in rock that was leaning towards a grunge style. Phil Anselmo's vocals change again on this record to a more of a screaming style on certain tracks that is different than the growl style used on the last album. Lyrically, the album is just as aggressive as their previous record Far Beyond Driven. Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals alone alone at Terry Reznor's Nothing studio in New Orleans while the other band members recorded in Dallas. He did this to cover up his heroin addiction that he was ashamed of at the time.
The Great Southern Trendkill was a commercial success, reaching #4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. It also has gone Platinum in the U.S. The strengths of the album are the aggressiveness, the innovative guitar riffing, and the track "Floods", which is one of the most unique in Pantera's discography. The weaknesses of the album are the filler tracks on the album and some of the songs are striving to be as heavy as possible instead of being good tracks. Here are my thoughts on each track.
1. "The Great Southern Trendkill" 3:47 (4.5/5)
"The Great Southern Trendkill" begins with harsh screaming from Phil Anselmo and then a very heavy guitar riff kicks in. This song is really over the top when it comes to heaviness as Phil screams about how everyone is giving into the grunge trend. My favorite part of the entire song is the breakdown with Dimebag playing a sick southern guitar riff. Then he begins to do a nasty shredding solo that is fantastic to end the track. Overall, the title track is a great way to start the album.
2. "War Nerve" 4:53 (2.5/5)
"War Nerve" opens with a very good guitar riff from Dimebag. Phil Anselmo yet again demonstrates his new style of vocal delivery to some corny lyrics that are not very good to my own admission. There are elements to this song that I like, but the lyrics are really cringe worthy during some parts. Then after the second chorus Phil just does random shrieking that is really intolerable. "War Nerve" is one of the tracks that is trying to be heavy, but fails on the song writing level.
3. "Drag the Waters" 4:55 (5/5)
"Drag the Waters" has one of my favorite guitar riffs from Dimebag ever. It's a slower tempo track that reminds me of "Walk" from Vulgar Display of Power. Lyrically it is one of my favorites from the album. Phil's vocals are as good as they have ever been from any of the previous albums. The guitar solo is great as expected from Dimebag. Overall, "Drag the Waters" is probably my second favorite song from this album. Click below to view the music video.
4. "10's" 4:49 (4.5/5)
"10's" begins with a somewhat sinister guitar riff that is played throughout the track. Phil's vocals are very unsettling on this track because of how soft and heavy they are. The guitar work from Dimebag is suttle, but excellent. The guitar solo is so soulful and melodic, definitely one of his best. Overall, 10's is not the usual in your face hard rocker from Pantera, but it is extremely effective. Click below to listen to the song.
5. "13 Steps to Nowhere" 3:37 (3/5)
"13 Steps to Nowhere" begins with an unsettleling sound to it. I really enjoy Dimebag's extremely simple, but effective guitar riff played throughout. Phil's vocals are really solid on this track as well. The guitar breakdown to end the song is very unsettling and done well. Overall, its a decent track.
6. / 7. 'Suicide Note Pt. I' and 'II' 4:44, 4:19 (4.5/5)
"Sucide Note Pt. I" is the softest track on the album, but lyrically it's very heavy. The acoustic guitar is used well for a track like this. Phil demonstrates that his clean vocals are still spot on. The chorus is very haunting lyrically and will make anyone realize the serious tone of the track. "Suicide Note Pt. I" is different territory for Pantera and is one of the best moments from the album.
"Suicide Note Pt. II" is a complete 180 with screaming and insane guitar riffing throughout. Dimebag's riffs on this track are absolutely killer. Phil's vocals are extremely heavy and his delivery is insane. Dimebag's guitar solo has some of the weirdest effects I've ever heard. Vinnie's drumming is also very good on this track. Pt. II is the heaviest song from a very heavy record.
8. "Living Through Me (Hells' Wrath)" 4:50 (3.5/5)
"Living Through Me" begins with an awesome guitar riff from Dimebag. Phil's vocals are very heavy on this track with a mix of low growls and screams. Dimebag really shines throughout this track with riffs that are mind blowing. The breakdown in the song features soft spoken whispers from Phil and strange sounds in the background. Then, Phil screams at the top of his lungs to end the breakdown that will catch anyone off guard. There is no guitar solo on this track, which is odd for Pantera. Overall, it's a good track.
9. "Floods" 6:59 (5/5)
"Floods" is one of those atmospheric tracks with an unsettling feel to it that builds to huge peak and then begins to descend after its peak is reached. Dimebag's guitar work during the build up is very clean sounding and builds the groundwork for a great track. Phil's vocals are amazing on this one. Just before the guitar solo Dimebag plays a very heavy headbanging guitar interlude where Phil repeats the word "die" over and over. This solo is looked at as one of the greatest of all time and for good reason, it's absolutely amazing and again proves how great Dimebag is. Then the same haunting head banging guitar riff and vocals are played again before the song calms down again. I like to think the buildup to the song is before the flood, the heavy guitar riff is the beginning of the flood, the guitar solo is the flood itself, the heavy guitar riff is the horrible aftermath of the flood, and the beautiful outro is the new blooming world after the flood. Overall, "Floods" is the my favorite song from the album. Click below to listen to the song.
10. "The Underground in America" 4:33 (2.5/5)
This track begins with a pretty cool guitar riff, then, Phil begins his screaming again. The guitar riffs are fast on this track, but are not very good unlike the others on the album. This song really fills like filler to me. There are no qualities that are noteworthy. Overall, "The Underground in America" is heavy, but lacks the song writing chops many of the other tracks from the album have. The guitar solo is pretty good on this track, but other than that this one is not very good.
11. "(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin" 5:39 (2/5)
This track really feels tacked on for extra run time. This album should of ended before this track began.The guitar riffs aren't bad here, but the song around them isn't worth listening to. Also there is a 2 minute silence in this track that shouldn't even exist. Overall, "(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin" is the worst this album has to offer.
My Verdict:
Pantera's The Great Southern Trendkill is one of the most unique albums in their discography. It’s brutal, but melodic. I think Pantera could have definitely ended the album with better tracks. Pantera does begin to show age on this album because of the filler tracks that exist on this release that didn't exist on previous albums. This album is brutal like their previous release, but shows more melody. There are plenty of tracks off this album that are among the best of Pantera. Overall, The Great Southern Trendkill is a good release with a combination of brutality and melody.
