Review Summary: The Deftones had a lot to live up to and they certainly delivered.
After the massive success of White Pony, which many people considered a genre-defining record that managed to set the Deftones apart from the whole Nu-Metal movement, the pressure was on for the band to deliver another equally inventive and creatively successful record.
This self-titled record, and their fourth album overall, was both a departure from their previous record, but also a culmination of everything they had done musically up until that point. The record is dark, moody and downright brutal at times, leaving the listener at the edge of their seat, while still creating the atmospheric soundscapes found on White Pony.
Most of the album is a bit more simplified and raw musically than what the band normally comes up with, and it tends to focus more on letting every songs hit the listener as hard as possible, without completely abandoning the experimentation they had quite a success with on previous releases. The Deftones seem like they want to let go of all the expectations people had for the band. The band seems focused on creating the most bleak and experimental album they can and thereby allowing themselves to go in any musical direction they want on the record, without it sounding forced.
From the brutal openeing track of Hexagram, to the moody atmosphere found on Deathblow, to the again brutal and relentless attack of Bloody Cape and onto the experimental, haunting and autumn-like feeling of Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event, the album serves as the maximum extremes this band can go in and out of and therefore makes it the ultimate Deftones album in the sense of extremes and musical progression. Where White Pony succeeded in pushing the band into new territory, without falling flat on their faces, this album succeeds in pushing every aspect of their sound to the maximum, while still allowing their constantly evolutionary sound and ideas to flow throughout the album.
If you are a newcomer to the Deftones, then start of with Around The Fur or White Pony, but if you already own those, this is the next step in the history of the Deftones.
A perfectly dark, apocalyptical beast of an album.
! thanks for all the comments. The review was a bit rushed, so thanks for bothering about it
