Team Sleep
Team Sleep

Release Date: 2005 | Tracklist

Team Sleep – Team Sleep

It would be fair to say that, as far as side projects go, this is the biggest, most anticipated one for quite some time. When the news broke that Chino Moreno, mastermind of the Deftones, voice of millions, poetic inspirators, was to bring together a totally new project; people were always going to be excited. That was in 2000. A time where Nu-Metal had exploded, Deftones 3rd, critically acclaimed album “White Pony” went platinum, possibly as a result of the aforementioned happening, and after the millennium bug turned out to be a hoax, nothing really seemed impossible. Since that time, Deftones went back to a quieter, less commercial life which resulted in fights, near-misses and the slightly disjointed, yet brilliant self titled fourth Deftones album. In between all that, Team Sleep was building more and more attention, but no one, apart from the lucky few who had seen them live, actually knew what Team Sleep was about and what they sound like. Infact it wouldn’t surprise me that most people who buy this record wouldn’t or heard anything from it other than “Ever” the only full track officially released on the internet.

A few people would maybe be a bit disappointed then, when this extremely influential and respected artist only actually appears in half of the tracks of this album. Although this is Chino’s work to bring this band together, half of the songs on this album are either instrumentals or are sung by guest artists, Rob Crow and Mary Timony. On any other album im sure such variation would be fine, But when you are battling against A voice like Chino’s you better be worthy to even make a noise vocally other than an accompanying scream (Chi Cheng, Deftones). This isn’t to say that Rob Crow and Mary Timony are bad vocalists, its just they are put in a slightly unfair light on an album that a very large majority of people will want to hear just because of Chino Moreno. It wouldn’t be so bad if these vocalists only did one song each, put these two manage to appear on six songs in total, four of which do not feature, Chino. And somewhat annoyingly those four songs tend to be the weakest ones on this album. The main problem with this album is that there is far too much of it. 53 minutes of break beat, ambient meets rock anthem/ballads, is a little heavy on the mind, which is sad because the majority of the tracks here are killer, and if the filler songs (not the instrumentals) were to go, then this could have been a lot of peoples favourite record. Tracks like “Our Ride to the Rectory”, “Tomb of Liegia” and “Elizabeth”, all incidentally are together in the middle of this record, and none of which include Chino, are all pointless, unnecessary tracks that feel out of place and will soon become regular skipped tracks to the less die-hard fans and really is a section of the album which could really be done without…

…But enough of the negatives. Bar those tracks, this truly is an innovative, exciting and romantic record. A mix of chilling, danceable break-beat grooves and melancholic guitars, something Chino has always shone on even in the head bang friendly music of Deftones. Take the bass ridden opener “Ataraxia” a dark song where Chino sounds like he’s almost smiling through his words, it’s good to be home. Or the beautiful “Ever (Foreign Flag)” which sounds like “Minerva” with out the distortion. Or even the anthem “Bvld. Nights” a song that sounds like a Deftones b-side. It is essentially a fantastic mix of music, and proof that Chino, despite recently not being so able physically, still has a lot to show and prove of and to himself.

So, so what if this isn’t a perfect album? Let’s be honest, few would actually argue that Deftones have ever produced an album where every single song is flawless, and that’s not really a bad thing, because we all know that every time Deftones make a band song, they make three amazing ones, and it appears to be a similar ration here (although no bad songs here appear to be Chino’s fault, so maybe the next Deftones album will finally be the one?). It is part of the fun with bands who never quite make a perfect album, because it tends to mean that’s there’s something for everyone to love about them, and much of the same can be said in this wonderfully eclectic, yet fragile album, much like Chino. In fact, this could be the truest reflection of Chino we’ve had yet, as there as always been a desire to explore within him (see White Pony) but could never really do it in Deftones. Thank you for the wait, it was worth it.

Adam Turner-Heffer.

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3.9 excellent

Rank: #0 for 2005