Review Summary: The record's ours to break.
On the surface Gore is a textbook late-Deftones record. You got your thinly croons, your sharply-produced chugs and riffs, the occasional guttural vocal, the ever-growing mist of shoegaze-ish atmospheres and soundscapes, and the melodramatic and even sometimes overly esoteric lyrics. We get it. It’s Deftones. Well, that’s just the thing. It’s pretty much a cookie-cutter record. Though once it clicks, it really clicks. Deftones didn’t necessarily make a slump in their musical catalog with Gore, they just played it too safe. Though the record does suffer from some productions hindrances and some lackluster lyrical moments, it’s still an all-around decent record by the group. As a longtime fan of the group I can’t help but nitpick at what keeps this record from being their next breakthrough project or their next discographic milestone. First of all, it’s neither of those by any stretch of the imagination but the record is well-rounded over all. There isn’t a moment in which I feel the need to cuss out in anger or tear my ears off, but the record does fall short in some regards.
First of all, the lyrics on this thing feel like all Chino Moreno did was literally look back at all the songs he’s ever written and figure out a way in which to rearrange those ideas and make them sound “new”. Whether that be by referencing a different piece of clothing or a different geometrical shape or a different symbolic animal, so on and so forth. On the other hand, his vocal performances are pretty much spot on throughout the record. You get your usual crooning tenor vocals, the guttural whelps and some pretty nice falsettos for good measure. I have to give him mad props on songs such as ‘Xenon’, ‘Phantom Bride’ and ‘Pittura Infamante’. The latter especially, since it’s probably one of his most solid and dynamic performances since his Saturday Night Wrist days. Reaching tortured highs a la ‘Hole in the Earth’. Chino sways as always. On other tracks like the opener and Geometric Headdress he sounds like he’s borrowing way too much from his past material. He sounds forced to a certain extent. If I had to call out a major dud on this project it would probably be ‘(L)MIRL’. The lyrics are downright bad and the song takes far too long to pick up and go anywhere “interesting” to then just let up with a “Right now…”. It’s probably the only track on the track listing that I consistently skip over.
“I don’t miss you
I don’t care where you are now
You’re a ghost to me
Left with my taste in your mouth.”
From an instrumental stand point the record is by no means they’re “most technical album yet”, as stated before on this site by unnamed parties, but it doesn’t have to be. The songs are, for the most part, well carried out instrumentally. You get your heavy-hitters with songs like the title track and ‘Doomed User’. The former probably being the heaviest song on here with callbacks to their self-titled album era in terms of ferocity and the overall eerie tone that the guitars give out when colliding with Chino’s screamed vocals. More often than not, the other instruments get washed away in the production. Which leads me to my last nitpick, the production value. The vocals and guitars sound way too overly compressed at times, leaving little to no room for the Abe and Sergio to shine. Truth be told, it’s not like Sergio has ever stuck out in a defining way throughout the past two albums. Abe’s drumming is pretty standard across this record, sounding a bit too drowned in the mix at times especially in tracks like ‘Prayers / Triangles’ and ‘Rubicon’. Chino and Stephen do a great job in carrying out their usual chemistry in the guitar sections, each having their distinct highlights. Now, on behalf of the vocal mixing, Chino’s singing is sometimes layered and compressed in a way that it takes away from his voice. It sounds way too metallic and distorted at times, as if he were recorded inside a tin can.
Overall, Gore is a further extent of things the band have tried in the past. Granted, not executed as well as in past records. There are parts of this that sound straight out of ‘Saturday Night Wrist’ or ‘Koi No Yokan’. Sadly the record is held back by its not-so-good sound production, some lyrical duds and some of the bands most predictable material yet. If you’re a fan of Deftones this record will just be another decent addition in their discography. If not then this won’t change your mind.
Rating: 3.7/5
Recommended tracks:
-Xenon
-Gore
-Pittura Infamante
-Rubicon
-Phantom Bride
