This is clearly evident in “Sextape,” where his stream of consciousness lyrical sketches complement the dreamy guitar delay. Unlike most of his peers, Moreno injects a form of abstraction into Deftones, lining songs with sparse lyrics. The brutal nature of “Rocket Skates” makes past heavy-hitters like “My Own Summer (Shove It)” nearly gutless. The band deals a crushing blow on the rousing “Rocket Skates,” complete with head-banging chugging riffs as Moreno unabashedly screams “Guns! Razors! Knives!” as if his voice is ready to give out. It’s a wistful, softer side of Deftones that makes your mind float away.īut sticking true to their aggressive roots, Deftones boosts the intensity once more and bursts back to life. The desire to be all encompassing occasionally results in a muddled sound when the band tries to find an ideal middle ground within its hard/soft yin and yang.Īfter laying it down thick in the beginning, Deftones tone it down a notch on the mid-tempo “Beauty School.” Here, Moreno weaves his whispery voice between cymbal crashes and a cascade of reverb while Frank Delgado overlays ambient effects. Meanwhile, “You’ve Seen the Butcher” finds itself stuck in a gray zone where it’s not charging enough to create much excitement or pack enough melody to carry emotional weight. For instance, “CMND/CTRL” comes off as an undeveloped piecing together of hard sound bites. Going for sheer rawness doesn’t always work out though. Upping the ante with its pummeling riffs and raging vocals, “Royal” is certain to generate a massive mosh pit. What could best be described as the evil brother of “Hexagram” from Deftones’ self-titled album, “Royal” is a barrage of punishing guitar, high-pitched squeals, and Abe Cunningham’s relentless drumming. It’s simultaneously menacing and soothing – a distinguishing characteristic that puts Deftones in the upper echelon of hard rock.
The thick meatiness of the intro leads into an intricate, ethereal chorus buoyed by Chino Moreno’s signature airy, calming voice. To make things worse, bassist Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident in 2008 and has been in a semi-conscious state since, leaving the band’s future up in the air.Īfter shelving an album written with Cheng titled “Eros,” Deftones went back to the grind and conjured “Diamond Eyes.” Recruiting Sergio Vega to fill in Cheng’s bass spot, Deftones re-energizes itself on “Diamond Eyes,” which blends some “Around the Fur”-era heaviness and the atmospheric palette found on “Saturday Night Wrist.”įrom Stephen Carpenter’s bludgeoning riff on the opening title track, Deftones go into assault mode, unleashing a wall of distortion. The sessions for their last album, “Saturday Night Wrist,” were fraught with tension as the relationship between band members became fractious. The last several years have been tough for Deftones to say the least.
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