This was a really weird album for me. I was a very big fan of "White Pony", and I have since found "Around the Fur" and "Saturday Night Wrist" to be really excellent CDs. If not on a technical level, they certainly excelled emotionally, where they weren't dripping in faux angst like their nu metal peers, but it was just intense enough to find interesting. They were also interesting in their consistent inconsistency, which is where I think their self-titled falters. Where "White Pony" was frequently dissonant and bizarre, it had such a flow to it that, even when it would change into, say, "Teenager", it would still be a logical step. This was also present in "Around the Fur", where "Dai the Flu" and "MX" have such slow and bizarre parts to almost disturb you, but in the overall flow it seemed to make sense.
Not to say "Deftones" doesn't flow, because it does. Quite well, actually. I just found that there was no diversity between the songs. This CD could have been one really long song as far as I could tell. There are some excellent songs, such as the paradoxical "Hexagram", with gorgeous guitar backing ridiculous screaming, or the utterly beautiful "Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event", which is, of course, a somber song to go with the CD, but it almost feels uplifting at times, and is a good break from the relentless darkness that seems to be this album. I guess my point is that there is no difference between all the songs. "Minerva", then "Good Morning Beautiful", then "Deathblow", then "When Girls Telephone Boys". They aren't necessarily similar, but when looking back on them after listening, you realize that the overall feel of these songs never change.
That's not to say that the songs mentioned aren't good. "Good Morning Beautiful" has possibly the most catchy chorus on the album, which makes far more memorable. "Deathblow" has an excellent introduction bass line, and "When Girls Telephone Boys", however mindless it may seem at first, is a very logical step in the whole flow of the album.
Pretty much what I'm trying to say is that, though the album flows excellently, and most tracks on their own seem pretty good, together they almost seem relentlessly depressing and make "Deftones", at least before multiple listens, too big of a pill to swallow. |
