5.
Deftones – Around The Fur & White Pony
I’ve thought a lot about why Deftones were better than all the other nu metal groups, and I think what it is, is that there’s a musicality to Deftones that you can’t ignore. Stephen Carpenter’s guitar playing… he does this really dissonant thing a lot and it’s really cold and harsh (at least he did on the first three albums anyway), and it was kind of like an update of 80s thrash in the tone of his guitar and how he played it. But I think that what really gives them their edge is Chino. His vocals are so daring. His melodies are so brilliant and they weave around the songs in a way that not a lot of metal vocalists would dare do. When you had bands like Linkin Park and Incubus at the time where there was this whole thing about the frontman having this Californian boyband voice, I think Deftones embodied the exact opposite at the time – it was more like Depeche Mode crossed with thrash metal. Around The Fur has a really direct approach – amazing riffs, solid drumming and it’s an amazing double act, because to go from that to White Pony… it really could have been two different bands. I guess it was a bit trendy around that time for bands to say they had a DJ but Deftones did too, and they kind of kept Frank Delgado secret but he really came into his own on White Pony which has amazing sound design and really dark textures on that record. The riffs all felt really dark and oppressive, as did the lyrics. The first song on there is about somebody being kidnapped but it’s in first person. I don’t think I could choose one of these albums without the other, they’re a great double act.
