Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Deftones
Label: Reprise Records
Release: 2012
Length: 51:50
Rating: 4.5/5
When I first heard the opening bars of Adrenaline almost two decades ago, it was clear even to my young ears that Deftones were something special, something worth digging into. After Around The Fur it was obvious that luck had little to do with it, because those spaced-out Californians from Sacramento showed they were on a mission all their own, one after which the world of music would never be the same, and White Pony proved that leveling up is always possible. Contemporaries of the once-avant-garde Korn turned into a franchise that, besides the outfits and imagery of the new-school nu metal sound, invented a completely original way of tackling modern themes, and my ears grew hungrier and hungrier for more. The follow-ups were mostly disappointing, until, after the death of bassist Chi Cheng, I decided to break the cycle of endless letdowns (Saturday Night Wrist was a bright exception) by revisiting the once-addictive rhythms and songs that made melancholy fully compatible with my idea of quality metal. Koi No Yokan landed in my player, and how it all played out is boiled down in the few lines below.
Koi No Yokan means falling in love at first sight in Japanese, and since there’s always something deceptive about instant infatuation, I kept my distance at first, though it gradually melted away. Twelve years after White Pony, there was still enough tinder left in the heart for it to flare up, and the magnetism of good music summoned all those beautiful memories back from the grave, leaving the naive kid a bit older now, but happier for one new revelation from last year. Chi’s army of atypical sonic aggressors can survive the test of time and serve up almost an hour of truly outstanding music with precious few flaws. Stephen Carpenter’s down-tuned guitars hold the frame within which Cunningham’s brilliant rhythmic outbursts unfold beautifully, while the sweetness is entrusted to the esoteric, breathy whisper of vocalist Chino Moreno, who, after ditching the Korn-isms, has become completely airy and almost sexily sinister. The atmosphere is a pool where dreamy motifs and strings of lyrics intertwine, not always immediately clear or direct, squeezing out that world-weary pain the band has had plenty of in recent years. Koi No Yokan is, after all, a therapeutic attempt to ease the weight of knowing that things will never be like they were, and that some people, who slid ever deeper into the darkness of death, can’t be called back. Chi was dying by installments, and already after Diamond Eyes his duties were taken over by Sergio Vega. Heaviness and dreaminess joined hands with a sense of rebirth that put the band back on the rails of musical potency, allowing another climb to the heights of the Deftones universe of fragile delicacy and inspiring brutality.
Koi No Yokan is a record where everything works better than on the previous ones. The songwriting is above-standard Moreno, and the songs have real shape to them. The opener Swerve City, with an intro riff recalling a Zeppelin–Smashing Pumpkins hybrid of something you’ve heard before yet still unique, gives the push to dive into the depths. Moreno, obsessed with astral horses and forces of nature, doesn’t reveal too much sex appeal, yet despite the esoteric elusiveness, your attention stays locked like steel on the sounds weaving between the left and right ear. After the shockwave of that first rush comes an even more sensual follow-up in Romantic Dreams, which simply melts into a logical continuation. Carpenter’s guitar spins its threads, Cunningham’s meter holds back emotions from pouring out too fast with precisely measured hits on the skins, and Chino, amid the muted sounds of the bass and Delgado’s samples and keys, performs an act of shamanic incantation on himself in his own way. The wooziness is a perfectly logical result of chemistry that sounds natural and ethereally volatile. Leathers then sneaks in like a raindrop through thick clouds of fog and smoke, and after a gentle intro all the guns of the Deftones cannonade go off. Deftones wriggle out of the old wrappings of their once-constricting skin and keep their dignity and their own form without sounding like anyone but themselves. Moreno strings together contrasts of high-pitched screams, whispers and hypnotic murmurs, and despite a smaller dose of guttural roar, there’s enough core overall that the melody doesn’t dull the edge of the whole thing, and Deftones don’t sound the least bit wimpy or spineless because of it.
The highlights keep coming, and after the hand claps at the start of Poltergeist, memories of the band’s firstborn, Adrenaline, come flooding back. The sharpness that marked the bars of Bored is still here, only a little more mature and damn well fuller! A colossal hit of distortion and hand claps unfolds like nothing out of the ordinary, while Deftones, in explosions of sound, give birth to new galaxies of subconsciously suggested universes in the soul and brain of anyone who actually hears the music when listening to it. No waffling and no soft tissue. Entombed, with its atmospheric pop touch, drops into the whole like a well-placed moment of suspense, and the aesthetic doesn’t suffer one bit, nor does the energy of the record. Graphic Nature, with a punchier undertone, then sends the soul express back into higher gears of atonal beauty, and Tempest creeps in like an apparition from pop mist. Depeche Mode the metal way – that’s the closest comparison, as a Maynard-esque moment of sexy playing with the (dis)allowed doubles the feeling of eclectic fullness in what you hear, and the shades layer on top of each other like smoke screens of scarlet, stoned haze.
_
A moment later Gauze, with its openly fucked-up tempo, brightens the day with contours that are anything but danceable, yet work with confidence, coherence and compactness. If Deftones at times lost the thread of their guiding idea on White Pony, this time the whole machine and structure of the band is well oiled and lucid. Almost incompatible with the name Deftones. The crumbling of the rhythm remains audible, but still kept at a tastefully measured distance. Rosemary, like a sonic echo of the Orient, glides into the foreground as an image of a blurred temple of the soul surrounded by cherry blossoms. »There’s no sound but the engines drown / I might set free to roam …« is the line after which the stoner train starts moving and slides slowly toward the edges of the Deftones universe, but the dispersion of contours doesn’t kick in this time. Deftones crumble a slow lament with a sensual feel, as if to dedicate one more little piece to their lost friend Chi with Goon Squad, in a way tailor-made for him. And the closing What Happened To You could easily be branded as an unnecessary arty cherry on top, which isn’t entirely true, since Deftones have always steered their own narrative, even if it wasn’t always understood correctly.
_
Hypnotic power and the violence of gorgeous sonic beauty are the main premises of this latest love at first sight, but you won’t find the hit-single highs of the past, which My Own Summer undoubtedly was. White Pony got its sequel, it just took 12 years. Obviously everything needs time, and the river of time has clearly had a beneficial effect on the upgrade and natural evolution of Deftones. Koi No Yokan has everything it takes to make falling in love again with an old, former flame completely possible. Deftones gave it their all, and the best of the best this time is crowned with an extremely confident, steel-tight run of songs that nevertheless slip through your fingers on purpose. Like dreams. Like apparitions. Like specks of stardust lured into the world by the grief of loss, of parting, of saying goodbye to a friend. Chi’s body may really have died, but I know his soul is smiling happily now and blessing the fact that the Deftones journey into infinity goes on!
Line-up
Abe Cunnigham – drums
Stephen Carpenter – guitar
Frank Delgado – samples, keyboards
Chino Moreno – vocals
Sergio Vega – bass
Production
Nick Raskulinecz
Tracklist
- Swerve City
- Romantic Dreams
- Leathers
- Poltergeist
- Entombed
- Graphic Nature
- Tempest
- Gauze
- Rosemary
- Goon Squad
- What Happened To You?
