May 20, 2003 - Deftones

It's a quintuple release day (three full albums and two single songs) and a long three years since "White Pony", Deftones released their fourth album "Deftones" on May 20, 2003. This is easily their most experimental album yet, with Deftones dipping their toes into several different genres. Frank Delgado also plays less turntables and more keyboards, especially synthesizers, giving things a different than usual feel, while still sounding like Deftones. Let's check it out!

The album kicks off with it's second single "Hexagram" and after a quiet opening they slam nicely into a slow but heavy main riff with Chino Moreno sounding pretty great mixing singing and some long-held screams. They speed things up in the chorus as the pace of the music and Chino's vocals pick up nicely. He holds a couple super long, high pitched and piercing screams that sound super heavy and Stephen Carpenter is playing some pretty cool guitar throughout. It's a bit of an odd choice for a single, but it's really well done still and a pretty good way to open things. Up next is "Needles And Pins" and it's driven by a slow but groovy main riff by Carpenter with some cool bass by Chi Cheng throughout in the background. Chino sounds great once again mixing some soft singing with more super long screams. It's a little repetitive, but I still think it's a pretty solid song and Chino is definitely the highlight as his high, piercing screams sound so good! Track 3 is the lead single "Minerva" and like the opener it starts quietly before they slam into a slow but heavy main riff that hits loud and hard and sounds pretty cool. Chino sings a high, light verse overtop and it floats very smoothly along with this music. All clean vocals makes this make much more sense as a single and while it's not a true headbanger, it's still pretty solid for a more accessible song. The next track is "Good Morning Beautiful" and they jump right into a pretty catchy main riff with Carpenter alternating between a slow riff and a fast one and Chino singing a solid verse overtop. The chorus has a nice chugging riff that sounds pretty good and Chino sticks to singing once again, but he sings a loud and solid chorus. Track 5 is called "Deathblow" and it's got a bit of a dreamy feel to it with Delgado playing some slightly trippy synths and Carpenter and Cheng both playing some quieter, simple stuff. This is easily the most experimental song yet as they slowly jam their way through a few rounds of light verses, and slightly heavier choruses with some solid guitar, all with some pretty pop-y singing by Chino. At five and a half minutes you definitely get lost in it, which is not a bad thing at all for this style of music. Up next is "When Girls Telephone Boys" and after a brief phone call to kick us off they slam right into a heavy and fast main riff that is pretty cool and Chino is just belting out high screams right from the get-go, and I love it when he lets loose like this! The chorus has an even heavier and super sweet riff by Carpenter and Chino continues the awesome screaming vocals as well! This is definitely my favourite so far on the album, it's relentless and hardcore the whole four and a half minutes! Delgado mixes in some trippy turntables and keyboard effects and how could this not be the best song on the album?! Words couldn't do justice to Chino's amazing vocals on this song, he is just giving it everything he's got! I love it! Track 7 is "Battle-Axe" and it starts off with a quiet guitar riff before Abe Cunningham nicely counts everyone else in and they slam into a slow, but decently heavy main riff. Chino holds lots of long notes as he sings slowly to nicely match the mood and things roll into a similar chorus. This pretty much sums up the whole five minute song, which seems a little long since not a whole lot is going on. The next track is "Lucky You" and Delgado leads the way with an interesting turntable beat that sounds pretty hip-hop and Chino singing some more soft, long-held notes overtop. Cunningham's drums are interesting as well and this is another very experimental song with Delgado throwing in all kinds of psychedelic and strange keyboard noises. It's difficult to describe in words, but it's trippy and space-y, with a dark undertone to it all with some low bass by Cheng in the background. It's unlike anything they've done before, not my favourite but interesting for sure. Track 9 is "Bloody Cape" and Carpenter once again starts things off with a light guitar riff by himself before they slam nicely into the main riff. It's a super heavy main riff that hits loud and hard and everything sounds pretty sweet. It turns out to be a preview for the whole song as the verse is lighter with Chino singing softly to match, and the heavy riff turns out to be the chorus riff, which is pretty rockin'. It's very smooth the whole way through and Chino screams the final chorus near the end and of course I think he sounds awesome hitting some great high screams. Up next is "Anniversary Of An Uninteresting Event" and Delgado leads the way with a slow but solid piano riff that is very atypical for Deftones, but it sounds good. The Rhythm section forms a slow, trippy backdrop as the piano carries the pace and this is yet another unique and interesting departure from typical Deftones. Chino's singing sounds great overtop this music and Delgado adds all kinds of keyboard effects that make things sound pretty epic as they slowly march along. It's a largely uninteresting song funnily enough. The final track on the album is "Moana" and Carpenter plays a slow guitar riff to start but you can feel things ramping up slowly and after 48 seconds it finally hits! It's a slow but heavy and solid main riff with Chino nicely singing overtop. The chorus is loud and heavy as well with Chino singing Louder overtop some cool distorted guitars by Carpenter. That pretty much sums it up, a typical(ly solid) way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "Deftones" and I thought it was a solid album, but definitely their weakest one so far. I did like the experimental songs, but they weren't their best or heaviest stuff and while things remain good for sure I  just thought the overall quality didn't compare to even "Around the Fur" , let alone their last album. Where will Deftones go after this?