Review of the Deftone's White Pony

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Review of the Deftone's White Pony

The Deftones are a Sacramento, California based heavy/alternative metal band.

The band consists of Chino Moreno (vocals), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Cheng (bass) and Abe Cunningham (drums). The Deftones have built a reputation on their unique sound, which combines elements of punk, hardcore, hip hop, and heavy metal.

Being the huge Deftones fan that I am, and after being subjected to the impressive media blitz preceding the release of their third album White Pony, I just had to purchase it the day of it's release. Upon first listening to the cd I was a little disappointed with the band's effort. This new cd was nothing like their previous two releases. The Sacramento based band has built a reputation since the release of their first album Adrenaline in 1996 of being an aggressive "new" metal band. However, their style has shifted steadily from riff-based thrasher type songs to more melodic songs that find themselves being aggressive and strangely tender at the same time. In the previous album, Around the Fur, that shift was apparent in songs such as "Be quite and drive", "mx", and "dai the flu". White Pony finds the Deftones toning down the pace a little more and Chino Moreno screaming and howling in a less threatening way. His eerie animalistic voice is put to great use on this record. It accompanies the melody on "Change (in the house of flies)" excellently and adds a different dynamic to the song. An interesting vocal sound results when Chino and Perfect Circle/Tool lead singer Maynard Keenan. The two voices come together to create a haunting overall effect. Often the listener cannot determine who is actually singing; that's how well their voices compliment each other.

While the new record was a slight disappointment to hardcore old school Deftones fans, like myself, it does have some heavier songs on the record. Unfortunately these two tracks -- "elite" and "Korea"- seem to be less creative and thought out than the other songs on the record. This leads one to conclude that perhaps the band added those songs as appeasement to its record label and its hardcore fans. Elite does have an interesting wrinkle to it with the vocal distortion and unforgettable mind-searing hook created by Stephen Carpenter. Korea on the other hand is one of the weakest songs on the track.

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