Deftones – Gore

Released April 8, 2016

It seems fitting to start off this blog with a new album by one of my all time favourite bands.

Deftones have been in my life since the time of my second musical awakening at the age of about 14, along with other classic late ’90s bands – Tool, Offspring, Live, Rage Against The Machine, Green Day, Blink. I think the first song I heard of theirs was ‘Be Quiet and Drive’, and I vividly remember moshing my impressionable young head off to ‘Root’ when they came to Albury (yes, Albury) on the Vans Warped Tour in 1999. They’ve had my heart ever since.

As the Nu metal fad took off, Deftones were somehow lumped in with bands like Korn, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit et al., but to me their unique sound always set them apart. The mix of near ethereal melodies with intense, cacophonous wails and screams; the abrupt shifts from near whispered verses into huge, explosive choruses. I’m a big fan of contrast and dynamics in my heavy music, and Deftones have always delivered; they may have even been the spark that set it off.

Deftones twenty-plus year tenure has produced a discography that twists and turns through sounds, styles, and quality. The abrasive, raw sounds of Adrenalin introduced the world to their hard-to-categorise music; that sound solidified and was given a bit of cut and polish in ’97’s Around the Fur, launching them into hard rock stardom. Then came White Pony, often cited as the go-to Deftones album, that cemented their place in the scene. In contrast, the 2003 follow up, Deftones, received nowhere near the same praise – however it ranks up there as one of my personal favourites. After that the ‘Tones seemed to be headed for the same fate as a lot of their late-90s contemporaries, with 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist (Saturday Night what? … Exactly!) being a bit of let down to my 23 year old self.

But after a forced break (bassist Chi Cheng was hospitalised in 2008 after a car accident – he sadly passed away in 2013), they returned sounding inspired and revitalised with 2010’s Diamond Eyes. Then to my extreme joy came Koi No Yokan, which confirmed to me that Deftones were back and better than ever.

Now, with the release of eighth album Gore, they’ve taken their rejuvenation even further. There’s something for every Deftones fan on this album. First single and opening track ‘Prayer/Triangles’ harks back to White Pony. ‘Doomed User’ reminds me of Around the Fur, but features one of the most metal-sounding riffs I think I’ve heard from guitarist Stephan Carpenter. ‘Geometric Headdress’ is one of the album highlights. It’s one of those songs that has so many different parts, but when fitted together they somehow work as a whole.

Every song is a ripper. ‘Hearts/Wires’ is choccas with delicious melodies that linger in your head for ages afterwards. ‘Pittura Infamante’ surprises with the chirpiest Deftones intro riff ever, and includes some fancy finger-work by Carpenter in the bridge. Stephan is really having a good time on this album, there’s some great guitar work throughout.

Title track ‘Gore’ took me straight back to Adrenalin days, especially in the erratic chorus. Second single ‘Phantom Bride’ is quite possibly the catchiest Deftones song ever written. It even includes gasp a GUITAR SOLO by Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains. Don’t worry, they finish with a huge outro, just to remind us that it’s still Deftones we’re listening to.

I won’t be banging on this much about every album, but this is Deftones we’re talking about here. I really can’t help myself, I could go on for paragraphs. I’m just so happy that they’re still around, and still dishing out incredible music. There aren’t many bands that can do that.

Viva la Deftones.

Favourite Song: I dunno, Phantom Bride? Doomed User? Too many great songs.

deftones.com  |  Buy on iTunes  |  Buy Vinyl from JB Hi-Fi  |  Listen on Spotify