{"id":220367,"date":"2021-07-08T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/25yearslatersite.com\/?p=220367"},"modified":"2024-01-24T23:53:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T04:53:18","slug":"coming-from-panteras-the-great-southern-trendkill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvobsessive.com\/2021\/07\/08\/coming-from-panteras-the-great-southern-trendkill\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming from Pantera’s The Great Southern Trendkill"},"content":{"rendered":"
Many won\u2019t make it far beyond the opening scream of The Great Southern Trendkill<\/em><\/a>. Still, those who endure, let alone enjoy that ear drum eradicating intro will never be the same. It opens with a primal cry which seems defiant, but as the record progresses, songs reveal a terrible sadness beneath the rage. A lyrical vivisection ensues from start to finish, and though ferocious instruments make it a thrill, what\u2019s heard is exactly why heavy metal possesses an underappreciated depth.<\/p>\n Even after 25 years, the album is a merciless display of metal combining several genres into one epic record. However, it contains moments of brutal honesty that border on a strange softness. As such, Pantera<\/a>\u2019s The Great Southern Trendkill<\/em> is an intensely affecting album—the musical equivalent of a meat hook that gives a listener the means to rip open others as well as themselves. Not to mention a way, albeit grim, of holding up when falling down seems the only option—impaled and hoisted off the killing floor.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t grow up in a house that welcomed the hard stuff. Although my father enjoyed Elvis<\/a>, he drew the line at any rock \u2018n\u2019 roll after The King. He often subjected me to documentaries like Geraldo Rivera<\/a>\u2019s Devil Worship: Exposing Satan\u2019s Underground<\/em><\/a>. Satanic panic junk food depicting \u201cmetalheads as blood drinking<\/a>, graverobbing, sacrilegious hooligans.\u201d Heavy metal didn\u2019t factor into my parents\u2019 vision of my future, especially Mom who, on her death bed, wanted me to be Pope. They never understood the allure of this atavistic, aggressive music. To be honest, neither did I at first, partly because that meant admitting things about myself I didn\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n Metal is a genre for people who never felt powerful. Those who grew up outcast, without hope, and angry. It\u2019s a sound-path to confidence and self-respect as well as the sonic key to the land of misfits. Beloved bands weave loners into a legion, sometimes connected across borders. I don\u2019t speak Japanese, but someone from Tokyo<\/a> singing Pantera shares a common tongue.<\/p>\n \u201cStep aside for the Cowboys from Hell!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n