Deftones - White Pony
Featuring their third album. White Pony is fairly experimental and soft compared to their first two albums but also more emotional. With some really nice singles: Change, Digital Bath, this album made itself pretty popular. With emotional howls from Chino, a great and moody basswork and DJwork and steady drumriffs and guitarriffs, the band is complete. With a great variety of songs, like: angry songs, scary songs, emotional songs, mysterious songs, straight-forward songs, beautiful songs, the album is complete. What do we need more???
Line Up
Chino Moreno – Vocals/Guitar
Abe Cunningham - Drums
Chi Cheng - Bass
Frank Delgado - Turntables
Stephen Carpenter - Strings
1. Back To School (mini maggit)
2. Feiticeira
3. Digital Bath
4. Elite
5. Rx Queen
6. Street Carp
7. Teenager
8. Knife Prty
9. Korea
10. Passenger
11. Change (In The House of Flies)
12. Pink Maggit
1. Back To School (mini maggit)
The first track, and a good one. The track opens with a guitar/DJ (I don't know which) high-pitched sound followed by some great work by the guitar. The couplet is rapped by Chino and gets you a little bit headbaning, not too much. The chorus is just the chorus you would expect from Deftones, with Chino singing his thing, and a solid background. The rest of the album is just as this part not very mysterious or emotional but it doesn't matter much. A great track.
Grade 9/10
2. Feiticeira
The second song, and d*mn it's a scary one. The song opens with a haunting guitar riff with some evil distortion. The drums comes in and a few seconds later Chino comes in with a blood curling singing lyric. The song is about someone kidnapping someone else but that's still a bit unclear. For the rest, this track takes you on a joyride (don't exactly know the meaning, just sounds fun:)) without any dull points. One of my favorites,
Grade 10/10
3. Digital Bath
With a simple but effective drum beat you'll know that Digital Bath is a very calm song. A bit strange after the scary Feiticeira, but it's well done. The couplet is soft, very repetetive and great to relax. The chorus instead is emotional and loud at the same time. Chino doesn't shout but sings as hard as he can. Very good. The bridge is also very calm and peaceful, just as the couplet. The bridge is just the couplet guitar riff and Chino singing very soft. But, at the end of the bridge a distorted guitar comes in for a second and the final chorus comes. And that's really awesome. One of the best things I've ever heard, seriously. Chino sings as loud as he can without needless shouting. This is another incredible great track.
Grade 10/10
4. Elite
After Digital Bath, Feiticeira and Back To School, this song sucks great. The song starts without a intro and has very repetive guitar and bass riffs. The thing I really can't stand is Chino's shouting. For me, it is not bad when he shouts a few times in a song but this is fully shouting!! For the rest, the breakdowns and bridge are better than the chorus and couplet but still it keeps me skipping this song.
Grade 5/10
5. Rx Queen
Luckely for me (and maybe others) after a bad song, a real good song comes. Rx Queen is very moody and has some really awesome electronic drumming. The couplet is nothing special, just superb but the chorus is something you wouldn't expect from this song. With a heavy distortion on the guitar Chino sings just like Digital Bath loud but clear. This song makes me almost crying as I hear the emotional chorus. The only reason I don't give a 10 is the weird ending, could have been better.
Grade 9.5/10
6. Street Carp
This song starts with a guitar that really doesn't sound from the guitar from Deftones, but later a shout from Chino makes the couplet with normal distortion. This song has weird lyrics, as for the chorus the lyrics are: "well heres my new adress, 6-1-5-Oh I forget. theres all your evidence, now take it home, and run with it". This song is also the shortest with only 2:45 and it is easily to hear why it is short, almost no interludes, breakdowns and a really short bridge. This won't make the grade lower but I would have been happier with a longer song. Great track still.
Grade 8/10
7. Teenager
After the energetic and powerful Street Carp this song may sound on the wrong place. Teenager starts with a clean string/guitar and drumming and singing is followed. The song stays on the right tone, and has no real highlights. Don't get me wrong, cause what I've told till now is just the tip of the mountain. The song is full of emotion and has some nice lyrics. The DJ also delivers great work and sets the mood. This song is complete! More instruments or heavier parts would only destruct this song.
Grade 9.5/10
7. Knife Party
With Teenager fading away, a guitar begins. First I want to say something about the guitar, it sounds beautiful, I don't mean that I like it (I do but that's not the point) but because it just represents beauty. The guitar goes into a distorted intro with drumming and is also incredible. The couplet is just as the intro incredible with Chino singing. But the chorus is very different. The chorus can't be described of how beautiful it is, or how emotional. Chino sings "Go get your knife, go get your knife and come here" and the guitar and bass set the start tones which are exactly on the right place/tone. The bridge is so beautiful that it is almost evil. A women singing goes higher, higher till it reaches a pitch people never should get, because else their vocal cords would burn or something. The final chorus is just the same as the first two chorus but with the women singing. This is one of my most favorite songs from everything.
Grade 10/10
9. Korea
After Knife Party, Korea really sounds awful. Where the beauty stops and Deftones begin to play heavier. It's not very bad, but the place is wrong, track 9 could be better: Change, or Passenger, but not this song. The chorus is shouting and talking and the couplet is singing but it all doesn't fit into each other. The bridge is really good and reminds me a bit of Knife Party but still isn't as good as most of the other songs on the album. This song isn't really bad, it's even good but just not as good as the rest of the album.
Grade 7/10
10. Passenger
This is the song Korea sould've been, with a slow DJ effect the song already sets the mood. The voice is also worth talking about, why? Because after some listens and reading other comments about Passenger I came to the conclusion that Maynard sings in this song. MAYNARD!!! TOOL!!! AAAARGH!!!! It all sounds beautiful and Maynard as always sings as one of the best on earth. This song also sounds a bit more Tool with a pretty long intro/outro and lots of interludes. This song takes you on a joyride and never stops. This is also a song you may wake me up in midnight.
Grade 10/10
11. Change (In The House of Flies)
This was a single, and a popular one. And after some hearing I fully understand why. It has the potention to be popular and although I know some better songs on this album, I would also pick this one as a single. The intro is just the chorus on a soft version and the chorus itself is also great. The rest is hardly to describe why it is good. It has just the special Deftones feeling you can feel on lots of other awesome tracks. With a distorted guitar and Chino singing very loud this one is also one of my favorites.
Grade 10/10
12. Pink Maggit
A perfect ending on this album. With a very slow starting intro that only contains a guitar the song goes into the chorus which is similar to Back To School. This is just the heavier, slower, creepier, crazier version of Back To School. I can't choose which I like more, the rap-metal song: Back To School or the moody, mysterious, slower Pink Maggit. So I'll give them the same grades.
Grade 9/10
Best Top 3:
1.Knife Party
2.Passenger
3.Feiticeira
Worst Top 3:
1.Elite
2.Korea
3.Street Carp
Conclusion:
Despite some less good tracks, this album features only awesome tracks, which some of it are my favorite Deftones tracks. The tracks differ very much and although this album may sound very experimental after Adrenaline and Around The Fur, I think this wasn't a experimental album. Deftones knew where they were bizzy with, and it is also great to know that their calmer side may be better than their heavier side. The DJ delivers great work, with some background effects (Knife Party) or a beat which is the platform the whole song is on (Rx Queen). The guitar and bass are really good, not too amazing, but they hit the right tones. The drumming is very steady, featuring some nice fills and weird timing, the drummer knows what he is doing. Chino with his blood curling vocals sets the whole mood of the album, man, he can sing awesome, everybody has to agree that if someone can fully sing Digital Bath, you could be a better vocalist than many of the bands out there.
Pro's:
- KNIFE PARTY!!!!!!!
- Vocals are really impressive
- The production couldn't be better
Con's:
- Their heavier songs are a bit disappointing
- Only 12 songs, could have been more since there are lots of songs that clock in at 3:30
This album receives a great 5/5!
