catapulted into the mainstream heavy metal and alternative world in late 1997 with , a radio-friendly single and sure-fire hit from the band s sophomore album. The band from Sacramento, Calif., upped the stakes significantly with an experimental third album, White Pony, in 2000. It was a risky move from the label s perspective, but the album would become critically acclaimed. Since then, Deftones never stopped creating music, releasing albums every two to four years, even after the tragic death of original bassist in 2013.
With each new release, Deftones have consistently challenged listeners expectations and preconceived notions.
Each album is somehow more mature than the previous one, and each album shows the musicians raising the bar, subtly switching up their style just enough to retain their signature sound. It s safe to say that Gore is no exception.
Deftones eighth album—the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2012 release Koi No Yokan —finds the five-piece embracing melodic, dreamy, almost shoegaze territory. Gore is perhaps closest in style to 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist,” but the cohesive record has elements of high notes throughout the band s 20-plus-year career. Chino Moreno s cryptic lyrics are on full display, as always: We lay in the gore of our vices / and we writhe in them, he sings in the title track.
Yet it seems Gore was not completed without its share of creative differences. Lead guitarist and co-founder Stephen Carpenter stating that he didn t even want to play on the new record, that he was butting heads with the other members regarding the direction of the album. But despite his recent protests, Deftones haven t lost its guitar-shredding edge. Heavier songs like Rubicon, and Xenon pack in plenty of Carpenter s trademark eight-string guitar playing. Phantom Bride even features a well-known guest guitarist: Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.
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Gore is not as in-your-face sonically brutal as Deftones two previous releases. Instead, it s a spacey record, falling somewhere on the spectrum between cautiously gleeful and beautifully haunting. On one hand, most of the songs are fairly accessible. But, on the other, something about Deftones latest offering just gets under your skin. It s one of those albums that doesn t immediately click—it s a cultivated collection of songs that demands repeated listens.
