Floods (Pantera song)

"Floods"
Single by Pantera
from the album The Great Southern Trendkill
Released	May 22, 1996
Recorded	1995–1996
Genre	Groove metal
Length	7:00
Label	East West
Songwriter(s)	Dimebag Darrell Vinnie Paul Phil Anselmo Rex Brown
Producer(s)	Terry Date
Pantera singles chronology
"Suicide Note Pt. I" (1996) "Floods" (1996) "Where You Come From" (1997)

"Floods" is a song by American heavy metal band Pantera from their 1996 album The Great Southern Trendkill. A ballad, it is the longest song on the album and the third-longest song the band has recorded, after "Cemetery Gates" (7:03) and "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks" (7:01). An early mix of the song was released on the 20th anniversary edition of The Great Southern Trendkill.

Background

Pantera bassist Rex Brown said about "Floods":

That was one of my favorite bass lines on that song. We'd rehearsed it a couple of times and Dime and I sat down for quite a while with that. It was more of trying to get yourself in a mellow mood. It's a blazing solo with a really cool rhythm section underneath it - I'm really proud of the bass line. I think that was Dime's favorite solo on that song.

The lyrics of the song tell about atrocious acts committed by mankind such as rape, murder, and war, and contain a plea to God to flood the earth in a fashion like that described in the biblical Book of Genesis.

Guitar solo

The song features one of Dimebag Darrell's most popular guitar solos. The solo was originally a riff written by Darrell in the mid-1980s, and footage exists of him performing these licks as early as 1986. Guitar World magazine voted his solo as the 32nd-greatest of all time. Darrell built the solo from his improvised solos he played in concerts, before the band was signed.

Darrell on the solo:

That particular solo was thought-out in a more orchestrated fashion than some of the others I play where I just start ripping right off the bat. ... The thing that really makes the 'Floods' solo come across like it does is [bassist] Rex's playing behind it. He's using his fingers and he plays a whole bunch of cool licks and shit in there. He definitely adds to the vibe and feel of my lead because I'm playing off his part a lot—it was a great foundation for me to build on, man.

Darrell also said:

I picked up the idea of doubling from Randy Rhoads. It seemed appropriate to start off in a slow, melodic fashion and then build and build and build to the climax with the big harmonic squeals at the end.

For that last big note I think there's four guitars going on. There's a squeal at the second fret of the G string, a squeal at the fifth fret of the G and then I used a DigiTech Whammy pedal on two-string squeals at the harmonics at the fourth and 12th frets of the G and B strings, I believe. That was one of those deals where I didn't plan it out.

I just sat there and fucked with it until it sounded right.

Reception

Classic Rock writer Stephen Dalton described "Floods" as "Pantera's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'". Dalton also described it as "a seven-minute, shape-shifting, post-apocalyptic epic featuring one of Dimebag Darrell's finest solos, an octave-vaulting baroque ejaculation that sounds like Brian May on steroids".

Metal Hammer ranked "Floods" 9th on their list of the 50 best Pantera songs. They described it as an all-time classic.

Guitar World ranked the song 20th on their list of the 25 greatest Pantera songs.