On This Day in Metal: May 7th 1996 Pantera released The Great Southern Trendkill

At a time when Grunge ruled the music world, Pantera released their follow up album to their number one Billboard entry "Far Beyond Driven."

It wasn't the greatest time for the band as singer Phil Anselmo had a serious drug problem. Anselmo actually did all his 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 Dalworthington Gardens.

As mentioned in an article with revolvermag.com...

"It was a bit of a dark-horse record for Pantera, because heavy metal, at the time, was supposed to be on its way out," Anselmo said in a radio interview. "Grunge was the No. 1–selling genre at the time. Heavy metal was being experimented with by different bands, in different ways, and, really, from the Pantera perspective, we really, really, really, really wanted to fly the pure Pantera style of heavy metal as best we could. And we did."

Despite the well-documented tension growing between Anselmo and the Abbott Brothers — guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul — the band did what they could to keep their personal friction off the album and off the stage. "Even if we were feeling the strain, we didn't let it show," Vinnie Paul said. "The fans were there for us. It was probably the most abrasive, obnoxious record we ever made. It was out of control, and it was out of control in more ways than just the music. The people that were a part of it were out of control, the whole thing was out of control, I don't even know how we finished it."

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