The Great Southern Trendkill

The Great Southern Trendkill is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on May 7, 1996 through East West Records. It reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, and managed to stay on the chart for over 16 weeks. Due to tension and conflicts within the band, Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals alone at Trent Reznor's Nothing Studios in New Orleans while Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown and Vinnie Paul recorded the music at Chasin Jason Studios in Dallas.

Album information
"Floods", the album's longest song, contains a guitar solo considered by many to be Dimebag Darrell's finest. Guitar World magazine voted it as the 15th greatest guitar solo of all-time, Dimebag's highest ranking of three solos to make the list (the other two being his solos from "Cemetery Gates", ranked 35th, and "Walk", ranked 57th).

The album is available as downloadable content for Rock Band, with the exception of "Suicide Note Pt. I". "10's" was featured in the Funimation dub version of the Dragon Ball Z film Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan.

Lyrics and style
The Great Southern Trendkill is known for featuring relentless screaming throughout the album most notably on "Suicide Note Pt.II" while also featuring some of the fastest tempos and most down-tuned guitars that the band ever recorded. It also has a more experimental nature to its songs, such as the acoustic guitar and keyboard-laden "Suicide Note Pt. I", the long breakdowns in the middle or near the end of songs like "Suicide Note Pt. II", "Sandblasted Skin", "Drag The Waters" and "War Nerve". Possibly the most high pitched vocal tracks from Phil Anselmo would be "Suicide Note Pt. II", "The Underground In America", "Sandblasted Skin", "War Nerve" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)".

Unlike Pantera's first three major label albums, the vocals are often double tracked and layered to create a more "demonic" effect. An example of this can be heard in the chorus of "13 Steps to Nowhere", when Phil Anselmo's singing voice is backed up by high pitched screaming, done by Seth Putnam of the band Anal Cunt.

The lyrics tackle topics on Anselmo's hate for the media ("War Nerve"), suicide ("Suicide Note"), drug abuse ("10's", "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)") and the end of the world ("Floods"), Anselmo's view on trends ("The Great Southern Trendkill", "Sandblasted Skin") and teenage taboo on life ("The Underground In America")

Reception

 * Melody Maker (5/25/96, p. 49) - "It makes my brain hurt, my eyes water and my genitalia retract like a startled turtle. I cannot think of higher recommendation, considering the kind of album it is. If it made me feel all warm and gooey or tearful and lovelorn, then it would be a pitiful failure by its own lights."
 * Spin (7/96, p. 96) - "...mature speedmetal and perfect summer fun: twisted power ballads, rap-style toasting, almost radio-worthy melodies, plus all the right jackhammer drum jolts, wrestler bellows, and guitar lurch..."

Personnel

 * Pantera
 * Philip Anselmo – lead vocals
 * Dimebag Darrell – guitar, backing vocals; 12 string acoustic guitar on "Suicide Note Pt. I"
 * Rex Brown – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Vinnie Paul – drums


 * Additional musicians
 * Seth Putnam – additional vocals on "The Great Southern Trendkill", "War Nerve", "13 Steps to Nowhere", and "Suicide Note Pt. II".
 * Ross Karpelman – keyboards on "Suicide Note Pt. I" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)".


 * Technical personnel
 * Terry Date – producer, recording, mixing
 * Vinnie Paul – producer, recording, mixing
 * Pantera – co-producer
 * Ulrich Wild – co-recording