Deftones : White Pony [Limited Edition
Red]
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Album Review:
Hard rockers Deftones take their heavy post-grunge ways to
another level on their third album White Pony. Sensing painful
frustrations and personal rediscovery with its allusive
microcosm of an album title, the Californian alt-rock five
piece were periodically stifled while making White Pony. Their
1997 sophomore effort Around the Fur was hailed to blast out
commercially, but such pressure crippled the band musically
and personally. The band struggled with leading its direction,
trudging through weighed emotion, but White Pony was the
tantalizing outcome. The Deftones went soft, but in an
impressive way, to twist around its signature punk thrash
sound. Frontman Chino Moreno is still intense, and his sour
vocals throughout the entire record growl and stomp all over
mainstream movements. He is bored with it all.
"Feiticeira"
calls out against authority with textured guitars and gnarling
percussive throws. "Elite" is a sonically industrial
and
embryonic, Moreno's beer-soaked vocals scream like Ministry's
Al Jourgensen and Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre. Lyrically, Moreno
is exquisitely mind-blowing, but his fear is also evident.
Check out the fierce ballad-esque "Teenager" -- the
innocent
days when life seemed easy can only be dreams now. Moreno's
duet with Tool's Maynard James Keenan on "Passenger" is
as
equally tender. The first single, "Change (In the House of
Flies)," is hardening in the way that punk can be sultry and
not just pogo-skanking nonsense. It is honest, stripped, and
exposed with it's flowing guitar riffs and haunting orchestral
back drops. There aren't any lackluster similarities to Limp
Bizkit and KORN. The Deftones have forged ahead, unafraid to
delve into the influences of The Smiths and The Cure. [Aside
from its official non-limited silver casing, White Pony was
released in two limited-editions, housed in either a black or
red jewel box. Both contain a bonus track -- the Hum
sound-alike "The Boy's Republic" -- plus multimedia
tracks and
video cuts.]
- Authored by MacKenzie Wilson