Total Pageviews

2010-09-24

Deftones -- I like them

I have a sort of love/dislike relationship with Deftones.

The music from the new album Diamond Eyes is pretty awesome. So are the videos for the two singles. Watch them on YouTube:
Rocket Skates
Diamond Eyes
I've got no problems with these songs--really cool stuff. I'd rate them both a nine out of ten. It's not totally amazing stuff, but it's right up there with their best material.

I'd argue there are two eras of Deftones, with a clear dividing line between: Pre-White Pony (PWP), and Post-White Pony (PWP). That album was their most experimental and most amazing effort. It was their third. The first two albums were really heavy, emo-hardcore-metal-hiphop stuff, which I'm not totally sold on.

I feel this band has gotten better with age. Their newer material shows a greater maturity over their previous, and I feel it's much more listenable, and even somehow relatable.

...not to say that I don't like their earlier work. Do I really need to put the video for My Own Summer (Shove It) up here? I think not. If you've read this far, you probably like Deftones. Therefore, you must know that song. Their best ever for me. We need not say much more about it other than COME SHOVE THE SUN ASIDE SHOVE IT SHOVE IT SHOVE IT

Deftones bring funk and flava into metal. They make it downright danceable. Case in point: Mein (YouTube link) from the last album, "Saturday Night Wrist." It sounds more pop-y than other metals with more screaming and guitar solos and generally more buttrock influence, but Deftones differ from other bad rap-metal acts because they avoid the misdoings that pop often do--stealing the beat of hiphop and dance music & inserting shitty singing and T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E runofthemill, yesterday's news, annoy me to death and put me to sleep instrumentation.

Deftones, true Californians that they are, blend all that stuff together--metal, hiphop, pop singing--into one cohesive mix. They're doing what Incubus should have kept doing--staying real. Their style is tight, they pull no punches, and they make you want to dance and love and get cathartic all at once.

Chino's vocal lines, I would say, are the most defining aspect of Deftones' sound. The band itself is tight. The drummer's style really adds to the funk, while Stephen, on guitar, brings the metal.

Speaking of Stephen, I'm given the impression he really took Chi's coma personally. His guitar sounds on Diamond Eyes, especially, are angry and sad. There's a hopelessness to his verse riff to that song, but then it gets really beautiful while still staying heavy. He wants to make a big sound for his friend. He probably worked closest with Chi, being the counterpoint counterpart to his bass. My sympathies, Stephen. I feel for you. Chi had an awesome mane of black hair and a brutal style and the body of a behemoth. His loss is a great one.

Dig this--Black Diamond Skye--Alice in Chains, Deftones, and Mastodon touring together. The tour name is taken from the titles of the newest albums from all three bands, "Black Gives Way to Blue," "Diamond Eyes," and "Crack the Skye."

That is surely a show that will sell big. You'll be getting HARDCORE fans of all three of those bands who will sell their left nut to see the show. I'd love to go... I should check for Seattle dates.

...though, I'd give my right nut to see the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour stop in Seattle. I'd see that instead.

Wait, what am I talking about? I have child! Good thing she makes me happy..... little brat.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I encourage comments from any and all readers. Please lay your thoughts on me.