Pantera
The Great Southern Trendkill

THE REVIEW

Well, this is my first review and I chose one of my favorite CDs: namely The Great Southern Trendkill by Pantera. Released in '96, it is probably, along with Reinventing The Steel, the CD with the harshest sounds from the Texan group. Well, after inserting the CD in the stereo and pressing the fateful "play," it immediately kicks off with the stupendous "The Great Southern Trendkill" (the first song with the same name as the CD) featuring one of Anselmo's most devastating screams, which lets us know the album is truly wicked, the song flows smoothly until the beautiful fade-out ending, dominated by Darrell's guitars. Immediately after comes War Nerve, akin to Mouth For War of the situation, which flaunts a ferocious riff.

But the masterpiece is the third song, the beautiful "Drag the Waters," in whose lyrics Ühil seems to pour all the hatred and rancor permeating the entire CD. The 4th song, 10's, is much less intense than the others; here Anselmo finds the warm and almost grunge voice that he also showcases with Down. The fifth song is "13 Steps to Nowhere," perhaps the song that goes most unnoticed, mainly due to the lack of touches of class except for the intro with the drums, a novelty for Pantera.

The sixth song is instead the prelude to the destruction of the seventh. In fact, Suicide Note Pt 1 and Part 2 both deal with the theme of suicide, with the peculiarity that, while "SNPt1" is extremely slow, melancholic, and sad, "SNPt2" is extremely fast, wicked, and ruthless, making you want to headbang even while sitting on the couch. Track 8, "Living Through Me", is another beautiful piece which you cannot help but notice the break, with ambient sounds, worthy of Deftones. We then arrive at the melancholic "Floods," the third "calm" song of the CD, which is enriched by sampled sounds and a nearly minute-long guitar solo that takes your breath away! This is followed by the other masterpiece (at least for me) of the album: "The Underground In America," a song that exudes malice and violence, with a beautiful ending that connects with guitar feedback to sandblasted skin, making these two songs sisters.

After listening to TGST, you immediately realize Pantera's evolution from "Far Beyond Driven." The guitars are sharper, Vinnie Paul’s double bass and rhythms are more aggressive and closer to thrash, while the vocals have become, especially in the screams, comparable to black metal. The rating for the CD would be 4/5, but considering the beautiful booklet and the touches of class (see various guitar fade-outs or even the splendid union between tracks 10 and 11), it could rise to 5/5. Obviously, there are those who don't care much about these things, so I'm leaving it at 4/5 and that's the end of it. Tell me what you think about my first work and excuse me if I am wordy, but Pantera are Pantera!