Deftones

[october_midnight]

Since there's no thread I could find, figured I'd start up the new ETS version with some insane, if not completely new to everyone, news:

Chi has begun to emerge from his coma; can lift his legs on command and is making sounds.

Don't you give up, man.

[Kid Charlemagne]

I used to love these guys in middle school, especially those first three albums, but haven't checked back in that much. I listened to Saturday Night Wrist once and thought it was good, but kind of forgot about them. How have the albums been since White Pony in your guys' opinion?

Speaking of White Pony, part of the reason I want to get back in to them was because I listened to it maybe about a month ago and forgot how much I loved it and I thought it holds up extremely well. I honestly think that it's one of the most underrated and misunderstood albums in some time. Loved "Knife Prty", "Digital Bath", "Street Carp" and "Elite" and think the rest of the album is very good. Some of my appreciation for them stems from the Metal Evolution episode on nu-metal. I was glad to see Chino looking slim again.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Thanks for posting this OCT. Amazing. He's gotta pull through!

[aggroculture]

My fav Deftones album is Around the Fur. I think WP has some fantastic moments and some of the band's best songs, but as a whole I find its flow disrupted. The self-titled was, and remains, a crushing disappointment, though it has some incredible sounds on it. Saturday Night Wrist I listened to non-stop for a few days, then turned from it and have not been back. The new one has some bite to it, but I can't really love this band much anymore. Planning on revisiting Adrenaline soon: I loved that album to death back in 95.

[richardp]

Holy shit. That's really fucking awesome about Chi! That makes me so happy.

Deftones are one of my favorite bands. I love them. White Pony is my favorite album of theirs. I also don't understand why everyone hates Self Titled so much. I think that album is massively overlooked. Some of the darkest, heaviest stuff they've ever done lies on that album. In fact, I think that Battle-Axe is one of their best songs.

But Kid, if you're getting back into Deftones, be sure to check out Diamond Eyes. It's incredible. Super fun album. They took the Chi shit and made probably the most cohesive album since White Pony, and probably the most positive sounding album yet.

[Wretchedest]

I think they get better with every album... although I think White Pony and Adrenaline are lacking compared to Their Predecessors. Their writing and musicianship has matured a lot over the years, and I even really like their often betrothed self titled. I think its a highlight....
Always wished Eros would see the light of day. that one song, Melanie, they used to play from it kicked ass all over the place. Glad chi's getting back up

[Piko]

Only album I can't really get behind is Adrenaline. I started with Around the Fur, then White Pony. Adrenaline was just too different I guess. White pony remains my favorite though. A nice mix of around the fur and the things to come in the future albums. Diamond Eyes is a very solid album. The chi stuff definitely brought that out.

[Kodiak33]

They should (should've) released Eros and gave all of the money towards Chi's recovery.

[richardp]

They should (should've) released Eros and gave all of the money towards Chi's recovery.

They should, yes, but I understand why they haven't released it. I remember interviews saying that it was a really dark album, so I could see them not wanting to release a dark angry album in favor of a more positive sounding one, to help them cope with Chi.

[Kodiak33]

I could cope with it though.

[Space Suicide]

Good news about Chi and I'm surprised we didn't have a Deftones thread on here. Odd!

I've been a fan of this band for awhile...a long while. 2001 or so. I was eleven then...hot damn.

[Wretchedest]

Good news about Chi and I'm surprised we didn't have a Deftones thread on here. Odd!

I've been a fan of this band for awhile...a long while. 2001 or so. I was eleven then...hot damn.

Me too! Very long time. Much before my interest in NIN. I think the reason we didnt have a thread before was due to Crosses....

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I got into Deftones about the time Around the Fur came out. Everyone drooled over that album, but it is one album I don't really listen to all that much anymore. I have been going back to Saturday Night Wrist to be honest and man, I forgot how many good songs came off of that album. Self-Titled will always be my favorite.

Deftones
Diamond Eyes
Around the Fur
SNW
White Pony
Adrenaline

[profane]

Day 1 http://t.co/QK8OH6qE -- Deftones (@deftonesband)

[Amaro]

Eros? Is that's what's up?

[henryeatscereal]

Hope so, i heard Chi is getting better, i loved "Diamond Eyes" but im so curious about Eros

[richardp]

Guys this isn't Eros. Eros won't be released until Chi is fully awake, which could be a VERY long time. This will be a brand new Deftones album.

[profane]

Indeed, I don't remember where but I remember reading that they would be hitting the studio to record a new album around this time of the year.

[richardp]

Indeed, I don't remember where but I remember reading that they would be hitting the studio to record a new album around this time of the year.

Chino recently confirmed it in an interview. But he originally said in July. This is obviously WAY earlier than that, which is very exciting. We'll possibly have the new album before originally expected.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

..And he said in an interview that Team Sleep is alive and well!

[Prettybrokenspiral]

Nice! They're way ahead of the curve if they already have six or seven songs being worked on. Hopefully around this time next year we're reading all the internet studio engineers bitching without merit about the production on a new album..

[Prettybrokenspiral]

I think the reason it doesn't get more love is because its their heaviest most extreme record (which is why I love it).....I always love when a band follows up their biggest breakthrough album with a wtf/extreme record....Its what Faith No More did with Angel Dust and what Trent did with The Fragile and what Deftones did with ST....Around The Fur and White Pony brought forward a lot of posers and people who just wanted to hear ballads or 'Be Quiet and Drive Part 2" or 'Change Part 2" or 'Digital bath Part 2"....And they could have easily sold out and did another WP with a bunch of smooth songs with Chino singing....Instead they just went balls to the wall with the heaviest, rawest songs they had ever written. Chino screaming his head off in almost every song. They literally didnt give a fuck around that time. Just such a raw abrasive 'fuck you' type of album.....A middle finger to everyone who wanted White Pony 2...Its by far my favorite album of theirs....I think they are down on that era because of the massive drug use they ALL were involved in at that time.....Its my fav Deftones era....

I like S/T more than WP, but both albums land in the bottom half of my top 8 Deftones albums. My only problem with S/T is the same one I've had since the first time I heard it: it sounds all over the place stylistically. There's nothing wrong with that, of course; Hexagram, WGTB, Deathblow, Battle Axe, Pins & Needles and Bloody Cape are all top shelf. It's just that the album never feels as cohesive as other albums like ATF, KNY or Diamond Eyes do. I know Chino hates a lot of those songs because he was in a dark place at the time and doesn't want to go back there, which is understandable..

That's why I love SNW so much. It's the clear anomaly in their discography and easily their most atmospheric, which is no small feat when it has albums like KNY and S/T on either side of it. They were pretty much fucked at the time they made it, but it still sounds amazing and holds together remarkably for a band that was breaking apart at the time. Almost as if it's their version of Disintegration. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like had they been successful in getting Ken Andrews to produce it..

One of my no-shit favorite things about a new Deftones album -- ever since SNW -- is reading all the bedroom engineers bitch and moan about how bad the album production/mixing/mastering is/will be. It made Gore so much more enjoyable to see people duping themselves into believing Matt Hyde had no idea what he was doing when he helmed its production. I guess that's why he's a professional engineer and everyone else is just bitching on the internetz, lmao..

So it has been for past Deftones albums, and so it will inevitably be for this next one. Let the good times roll..

[Archive_Reports]

I like S/T more than WP, but both albums land in the bottom half of my top 8 Deftones albums. My only problem with S/T is the same one I've had since the first time I heard it: it sounds all over the place stylistically. There's nothing wrong with that, of course; Hexagram, WGTB, Deathblow, Battle Axe, Pins & Needles and Bloody Cape are all top shelf. It's just that the album never feels as cohesive as other albums like ATF, KNY or Diamond Eyes do. I know Chino hates a lot of those songs because he was in a dark place at the time and doesn't want to go back there, which is understandable..

That's why I love SNW so much. It's the clear anomaly in their discography and easily their most atmospheric, which is no small feat when it has albums like KNY and S/T on either side of it. They were pretty much fucked at the time they made it, but it still sounds amazing and holds together remarkably for a band that was breaking apart at the time. Almost as if it's their version of Disintegration. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like had they been successful in getting Ken Andrews to produce it..

One of my no-shit favorite things about a new Deftones album -- ever since SNW -- is reading all the bedroom engineers bitch and moan about how bad the album production/mixing/mastering is/will be. It made Gore so much more enjoyable to see people duping themselves into believing Matt Hyde had no idea what he was doing when he helmed its production. I guess that's why he's a professional engineer and everyone else is just bitching on the internetz, lmao..

So it has been for past Deftones albums, and so it will inevitably be for this next one. Let the good times roll..

S/T would benefit from some track list rearranging.

[Prettybrokenspiral]

It is a bit disheartening when I see bands say "well what sense does it make to put the album out if you can't support it". That to me translates to, the music don't mean shit, we just wanna get paid. I don't know. The Beatles put out their best shit when they weren't touring. Band's don't "NEED" to tour for their fans to enjoy the music.

You're right, you don't know..

And once again, @neorev slams it out of the park. Nobody buys music anymore. Touring and merch are the livelihoods of bands everywhere in the modern day. Hence why you see so many turning to Kickstarter and Gofundme, which also have their hurdles, as we've recently seen. You don't need to be involved in the music industry in any way, shape or form to understand that dropping an album and giving it zero support is about the dumbest thing a band can do..

Remember last year when they were releasing all those festival dates on their social platforms, and I said it was because they were going to be promoting new material during that time? It's all part of a business plan. Gone are those halcyon days of the mid-90s when you could sign a recording contract for $200 million like R.E.M., release a new album and not do so much as a single tour date for promotion because you have a pile of money you go to sleep on every night..

You know what really blows in this case? Those of us who have bought their albums several times over each time they release something, pay top dollar to go see them on tour multiple times, buy their beach towels and beer coolers from their official store, and now have to wait even longer for new music because the world went to shit and their means of making money to live live music is cancelled until god knows when. How many of these indie bands we love and adore so much are even going to be indie banding anymore by the time this is all over? That shit sucks..

They just wanna get paid? You and me and everyone else. The music doesn't mean shit though? That's just incredibly misguided logic, I'm afraid. Even this band's worst stuff has been created with a love and care most other bands could only dream of aspiring to..

[Prettybrokenspiral]

Phantom Bride is the worst song on Gore, to me. Just completely maudlin with cringeworthy vocals from Chino. If that was the only song Stef was (mostly) responsible for creating, then I’m glad he sat in a corner for most of that album..

Pittura Infamante still makes me smile every time that opening riff kicks in. I can only imagine all the whiny Deftones purists wrinkling up their faces the first time they heard it, like someone had just ripped ass in their kitchen while their favorite meal was cooking. In a perfect world, that would have been the album opener, but Prayers/Triangles is fine as is..

Geometric Headdress is underrated as fuck. It’s like three songs in one. The dynamics in that track are some of their best on Gore..

I’m friends with Matt Hyde on Facebook and we actually had a nice conversation earlier this year, where I asked him how he felt about so many fans disliking the production on Gore. He had no idea fans had issues with it, and thought it was pretty funny, since that’s exactly how the band wanted the album to sound. I guess they would know, since they’re the band. I listen to that album on a decent pair of headphones and it sounds dense, atmospheric and involved. I can hear every instrument crystal clear. I guess it will naturally sound different though if you’re just streaming it off YouTube or Spotify from an iPad..

[Dryalex12]

Phantom Bride is the worst song on Gore, to me. Just completely maudlin with cringeworthy vocals from Chino. If that was the only song Stef was (mostly) responsible for creating, then I’m glad he sat in a corner for most of that album..

Pittura Infamante still makes me smile every time that opening riff kicks in. I can only imagine all the whiny Deftones purists wrinkling up their faces the first time they heard it, like someone had just ripped ass in their kitchen while their favorite meal was cooking. In a perfect world, that would have been the album opener, but Prayers/Triangles is fine as is..

Geometric Headdress is underrated as fuck. It’s like three songs in one. The dynamics in that track are some of their best on Gore..

I’m friends with Matt Hyde on Facebook and we actually had a nice conversation earlier this year, where I asked him how he felt about so many fans disliking the production on Gore. He had no idea fans had issues with it, and thought it was pretty funny, since that’s exactly how the band wanted the album to sound. I guess they would know, since they’re the band. I listen to that album on a decent pair of headphones and it sounds dense, atmospheric and involved. I can hear every instrument crystal clear. I guess it will naturally sound different though if you’re just streaming it off YouTube or Spotify from an iPad..

we need to trade ears cause i can hardly hear jack shit. Like for real, the only time I was able to here Sergio was in the beginning of Hearts/Wires with that small bass solo and the small noodling with Chino. I'm still pissed off how quite they mix Frank because his synth work is very underrated. Compared how the synths are mixed from White Pony to Gore and its like night and day. You can also make a dense record without blowing the shit out of the compression, ive done it many times with songs ive made. And i do listen to it with headphones with the cd copy so no, its not YouTube or Spotify or any of that.

Also, Geometric Headdress is one of the most blown out songs on the album and for whatever reason, the right side is louder than the left side. Yes, if you couldn't tell, I am a audiophile and i will keep complaining about this because it literally hurts my ears. Im pretty sure modern production has given me Tinnitus because i know it wasn't like this before.

[AndItKeepsRepeating]

we need to trade ears cause i can hardly hear jack shit. Like for real, the only time I was able to here Sergio was in the beginning of Hearts/Wires with that small bass solo and the small noodling with Chino. I'm still pissed off how quite they mix Frank because his synth work is very underrated. Compared how the synths are mixed from White Pony to Gore and its like night and day. You can also make a dense record without blowing the shit out of the compression, ive done it many times with songs ive made. And i do listen to it with headphones with the cd copy so no, its not YouTube or Spotify or any of that.

Also, Geometric Headdress is one of the most blown out songs on the album and for whatever reason, the right side is louder than the left side. Yes, if you couldn't tell, I am a audiophile and i will keep complaining about this because it literally hurts my ears. Im pretty sure modern production has given me Tinnitus because i know it wasn't like this before.

I agree, you're not alone. I have no issue with the songs on Gore, it's just the album is completely un-listenable to me because the production is so off compared to what I'm used to from them.

It's the same issue I have with the last Queens of the Stone Age album. If it's what the band wanted to sound like then great, I'm not trying to say I know better than them or that anything about it is wrong, it's just different, and my ears don't like it.

Part of what made them so interesting was the dynamic range in their songs, the riffs, the bottom end was a sonic force. Contrast that with keys, clean guitar, and Chino's ethereal vocal performances wrapped up perfectly by Abe's heavily hip/hop influence drumming, and you have a band and a sounds like no other.

Gore and this new song just sound like everything else sonically , it's all meshed together into the mid range and it's just not appealing.

But that's also just my opinion.

[Prettybrokenspiral]

Those promo clips from Diamond Eyes were their best ever, hands down. Sextape, Rocket Skates, You've Seen The Butcher, the title track..there were actual stories and things happening in those videos, instead of their usual boring, pointless, largely performance-based video bullshit for other banging singles (Minerva, Hole In The Earth, Bloody Cape, Prayers/Triangles, Hexagram)..

I don't think I've ever seen a band have a boring videos to amazing singles ratio quite like this band. Whatever got into them around Diamond Eyes, their videos were suddenly some of the best in rock at the time..

[Prettybrokenspiral]

Wow, didn’t know that about Team Sleep, that record opened up a lot of things for me as a younger listener - kinda put me onto a mix of more electronic influenced music that still guides me today.

Apparently, Chino has also soured on the Palms stuff, calling it "disappointing" in that recent interview that HelpmeiamsuretoloveGoreoneday posted a little while back. He tracked some heavier material with those guys and then shitcanned it to work on Ohms. There was that unbelievable stretch from 2010-2014 where we got two fantastic Deftones albums, a Palms album and a Crosses album, plus they were already working on the Gore stuff..

Then 4.5 years since Gore and nothing whatsoever, save for one admittedly brilliant Chino solo song. Dude is as mercurial towards his own work as the day is long. I fully expect that by the time they are able to tour again, the entire setlist will be ATF and DE songs with a couple Adrenaline and WP songs for an encore to appease all the Tony Hawk Pro Skater fans in attendance. Hardcore fans will be screaming for anything from SNW, S/T or KNY to complete indifference by the band right before they sleepwalk (NPI) into 7 Words for the 500,000th time..

[Jord]

Apparently, Chino has also soured on the Palms stuff, calling it "disappointing" in that recent interview that HelpmeiamsuretoloveGoreoneday posted a little while back. He tracked some heavier material with those guys and then shitcanned it to work on Ohms. There was that unbelievable stretch from 2010-2014 where we got two fantastic Deftones albums, a Palms album and a Crosses album, plus they were already working on the Gore stuff..

Then 4.5 years since Gore and nothing whatsoever, save for one admittedly brilliant Chino solo song. Dude is as mercurial towards his own work as the day is long. I fully expect that by the time they are able to tour again, the entire setlist will be ATF and DE songs with a couple Adrenaline and WP songs for an encore to appease all the Tony Hawk Pro Skater fans in attendance. Hardcore fans will be screaming for anything from SNW, S/T or KNY to complete indifference by the band right before they sleepwalk (NPI) into 7 Words for the 500,000th time..

Jesus, Palms I also have a soft spot for - some of those melodies are genuinely gorgeous, especially Shortwave Radio. I saw Deftones on the SNW tour and it was alright, but I don't really listen to much to the stuff before Self Titled, I just prefer their later output. Saw them at Leeds fest just after Diamond Eyes and it was awesome. Definitely hoping for more Team Sleep one day but whatever happens happens.