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"Considered by some to be Pantera's finest album, "The Great Southern Trendkill" is a unique sonic experience that should be experienced at least once in a lifetime."
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4/5
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As the famous Rolling Stone magazine said it, "the world is full of musical extremists, but few marry extremes as well as Pantera". It's a statement that hits you right in the face when you listen to "The Great Southern Trendkill", a pivotal album in the band's career.
The album kicks off with a senseless howl from Phil, the first in a long series of animal vocals recorded in Trent Reznor's Nothing Studio, far from the other three musicians. This division of a once bulletproof unit could have disintegrated Pantera. Far from it. In fact, it's absolutely remarkable to hear at every moment how much care has been taken to maintain this unity, not only in terms of understanding between the musicians, but also in terms of preserving Pantera's style. And the band is not content with this. True to its early approach, which has since become a veritable philosophy, it surprises, innovates and disarms.
Perpetually immersed in a powerful contrast between dark melodies ('10's') and madness ('The Great Southern Trendkill'), the album embarks the listener on a raft where you never know when it might capsize. Rex and Vinnie build that characteristic pulse (what a snare drum! ) that tries to balance it out and keep it afloat as best it can, but at the center of it all are two troublemakers, Dimebag on the one hand, constantly present, doubling and even tripling his guitar parts, superimposing layers of sound, from sweaty riffs ('Drag The Waters') to poignant solos ('Floods'), and Anselmo on the other, dark, oppressive, intimate, raging against just about everyone, from the media ('War Nerve') to nu-metal poseurs ('The Underground in America'). This direction takes on its full meaning with the dyptic 'Suicide Note', which holds no insignificant place at the heart of the album. The first part, as sad and sweet as a last meal, anaesthetizes the senses, the better to open a royal way to the second, which terraces you with its infinite brutality, dazzling and frightening at the same time.
The other element that comes to the fore on this record is the famous hypnotic quality of Pantera's music, the kind of metal psychedelia that was already apparent on tracks like 'Medicine Man', 'Walk' and 'Shedding Skin'. Here, it takes on incredible proportions. On 'Floods', we're on the frontiers of progressive metal, and on 'Sandblasted Skin', we're on the borders of abstraction. Dimebag takes his time and lets the atmospheres develop, as if he had no control over them and they just flow out of him without constraint. This patience is also evident on the two parts of "Suicide Note", which show an obvious concern for writing.
From the South, the fashion killer has fulfilled his contract. Ignoring their own past and oblivious to their own future, lost in an eternal immediacy, Pantera delve a little deeper into the essence of metal, drinking themselves into intoxication. Considered by some to be Pantera's finest album, "The Great Southern Trendkill" is a unique sonic experience that should be experienced at least once in a lifetime. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. The Great Southern Trendkill – 03:46
02. War Nerve – 04:53
03. Drag The Waters – 04:55
04. 10's – 04:49
05. 13 Steps To Nowhere – 03:37
06. Suicide Note Pt. I – 04:44
07. Suicide Note Pt. Ii – 04:19
08. Living Through Me (hell's Wrath) – 04:50
09. Floods – 06:59
10. The Underground In America – 04:33
11. (reprise) Sandblasted Skin – 05:39
LINEUP:
Dimebag Darrell: Guitares
Phil Anselmo: Chant
Rex Brown: Basse
Vinnie Paul: Batterie
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READERS
3.8/5 (4 view(s))
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STAFF:
4/5 (4 view(s))
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