2026 Anniversary Series 056: Pantera – The Great Southern Trendkill

Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 7th May 1996 Like the snake on the cover, lying in wait with a cold calculating stare, ‘The Great Southern Trendkill’ is an ambush predator. Oft overlooked in the pantheon of classic Pantera releases, their eighth full length lies coiled in the shadows of the ‘Cowboys-Vulgar-Driven’ trilogy of groove metal standards. Recorded under strained circumstances, as Phil Anselmo’s increasing heroin addiction (started to cope with pain issues in his back due to relentless touring) began to take hold, ‘The Great Southern Trendkill’ sounds like a band on the edge of something special and yet ready to plunge screaming into a self destructive abyss. A fascinating piece in the lineage of one of metal’s most epoch defining bands, and Pantera were never a band to do anything by halves were they? Thirty years on, how does ‘The Great Southern Trendkill’ hold up? Easily the most intense and savage Pantera record, with that scream that opens the title track you knew…