Gore

[NYRexall]

Wow, so this album is pretty fucking great. Not as epic as some were saying it was, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I listened to it once on good headphones, then on vinyl, and then twice in the car on a long drive this afternoon.

I love how they've melded their love of shoegaze and new wave on this. There's a thick atmosphere of doom and fatalism hanging over this entire thing, from the music to Chino's lyrics, which are some of the best I've heard from him on a Deftones record.

We lie in the gore of our vices...oh, how we writhe in them...

Good stuff.

Prayers/Triangles, Acid Hologram, Geometric Headdress, (L)MIRL, Doomed User and the title track hooked me immediately. As with every Deftones album, I simply don't even try to understand the people online who are bitching like their name was Jay Peyton about how this album "isn't heavy" or is "too soft". Are they listening to this with a pillow wrapped around their head while being held underwater? Because this album sounds fucking MASSIVE. Some of the riffs could cause tectonic plates to shift, and you could scale a skyscraper with the choruses of P/T, AH and Xenon alone.

Surprisingly, it's the more heralded tracks of the album that were kind of passable to me. Hearts/Wires is good, but not the epic I was hoping for in the way Entombed was. The music to Phantom Bride is outstanding, but I'm not really digging Chino's vocals and melodies on it at the moment. Way too schmaltzy and saccharine on first pass.

Rubicon was probably the most disappointing track on the whole thing for me. It's fine and it rages like a beast, no doubt, but I was expecting WAY more from the way some of you were holding it up so high. Of all the tracks on the album, this one sounds the most basic and generic to me. I was hoping it was going to be something experimental or left-field the way What Happened To You hit me the first few times I heard it. Rubicon sounds exactly like I imagine a Deftones song would sound like in the modern day if the band started listening to the fans who just want to hear them make some routine bash-and-smash old school style Deftones track. That's all this one is to me at the moment. Hopefully it will grow on me in time. But for now, WHTY is still the Mariano Rivera of Deftones album closers to me.

That intro to Pittura had me legit lol'ing the moment I heard it; personally, the intro riff to Xenon is just as amusing to me. 77 Years wasn't kidding when he said they should have released the former as the first single to troll the living fuck out of Deftones fans. It's like Deftones doing their best Jimmy Eat World impression and slam-dunking it 

Some of you were commenting about how much Abe owns on this album, and that's no joke. His drums are incredible on this record, propelling every track from the moment he begins. Geometric Headdress alone is worth the price of admission, in that regard.

So many interesting sounds and mood shifts on this record, based on the few times I've heard it. I'm sure it will unfold and make more and more sense as I spend more time with it. I can't wait to look back a year from now and see what I think after I've had some time to live in it. I don't think it's quite as good as KNY is to me, but that's an unfair assessment because I've had nearly four years to learn that album, and only four spins of this one.

I will say that I already put this one above Adrenaline, WP, SNW and DE, and I love all four of those records to death. I can see this potentially surpassing S/T at some point for me, too. I just need more time with it.

I give this an 8/10. Definitely in my top 4 Deftones albums.

[2MoreHours]

Question for you vinyl guys.  I just bought Gore on vinyl to start my Deftones collection.  What should I get next in terms of best booklet/inserts/other goodies that may be included inside?

I think S/T

Cool thanks!

[NYRexall]

Also...

The entire song is fucking amazing, but that first minute and change of LMIRL is fucking godhead. That doomy, drifting riff that leads into the bass, drums and Chino's vocal is one of the best things ever.

Way too early to say, but this is probably my fave on the album right now. An absolute masterpiece.

[NYRexall]

Has anyone deciphered what Chino is saying when he's doing that deep death growl thing on the bridge of AH? That shit is tasty.

[pinata89]

Also...

The entire song is fucking amazing, but that first minute and change of LMIRL is fucking godhead. That doomy, drifting riff that leads into the bass, drums and Chino's vocal is one of the best things ever.

Way too early to say, but this is probably my fave on the album right now. An absolute masterpiece.

I think (L)MIRL and Gore are the best pair of tracks in sequence on the album. They compliment each other nicely

[pinata89]

Has anyone deciphered what Chino is saying when he's doing that deep death growl thing on the bridge of AH? That shit is tasty.

No! And it's not in the lyrics. A true mystery!

[sooniletugo]

I'm trying to work it out too. Chino lyrics not been this hard to decipher since ATF.

Acid is addicting as hell.

[ANattyRat]

Chino's lyrics, which are some of the best I've heard from him on a Deftones record.

Yes! The lyrics really are some of the best, or the best in a very long time, in my opinion. Especially Geometric Headdress, that's probably my favourite, lyrically.

That intro to Pittura had me legit lol'ing the moment I heard it; personally, the intro riff to Xenon is just as amusing to me. 77 Years wasn't kidding when he said they should have released the former as the first single to troll the living fuck out of Deftones fans. It's like Deftones doing their best Jimmy Eat World impression and slam-dunking it 

I thought I'd accidentally hit shuffle and gone to a completely random band when I first heard the intro to Pittura Infamante, haha, I was so confused.

Also...

The entire song is fucking amazing, but that first minute and change of LMIRL is fucking godhead. That doomy, drifting riff that leads into the bass, drums and Chino's vocal is one of the best things ever.

Way too early to say, but this is probably my fave on the album right now. An absolute masterpiece.

(L)MIRL was such a struggle for me. I was so disappointed when it shifts mood after the first minute or so, from something so dark, sinister and moody, to something happy-sounding, that I didn't even want to like it. Then I listened to it quite a lot more, and I realised the only real time it sounds 'happy' is the chorus. The rest of it, yeah the music changes after the first minute or so, but it's still quite a dark song to me, the guitars and lyrics still give off that vibe. Definitely become one of my favourites. Not that I haven't said that about almost all the songs so far.

[ANattyRat]

Has anyone deciphered what Chino is saying when he's doing that deep death growl thing on the bridge of AH? That shit is tasty.

Nope. Reminds me of MX though, which is awesome.

[HooiserBowhunter]

Well after listening to this album over and over again I think it's safe to say I still love the songs  I initially liked at first listen. The only ones I am having a hard time vibing with are prayers/triangles, geometric headdress, pittura infamante, and rubicon. At the same time I didn't love leathers at first so hopefully the others will grow.

[NYRexall]

I think (L)MIRL and Gore are the best pair of tracks in sequence on the album. They compliment each other nicely

Really, really digging Abe's drumming on the entire album title track atm

[NYRexall]

Chino's lyrics, which are some of the best I've heard from him on a Deftones record.

Yes! The lyrics really are some of the best, or the best in a very long time, in my opinion. Especially Geometric Headdress, that's probably my favourite, lyrically.

That intro to Pittura had me legit lol'ing the moment I heard it; personally, the intro riff to Xenon is just as amusing to me. 77 Years wasn't kidding when he said they should have released the former as the first single to troll the living fuck out of Deftones fans. It's like Deftones doing their best Jimmy Eat World impression and slam-dunking it 

I thought I'd accidentally hit shuffle and gone to a completely random band when I first heard the intro to Pittura Infamante, haha, I was so confused.

Also...

The entire song is fucking amazing, but that first minute and change of LMIRL is fucking godhead. That doomy, drifting riff that leads into the bass, drums and Chino's vocal is one of the best things ever.

Way too early to say, but this is probably my fave on the album right now. An absolute masterpiece.

(L)MIRL was such a struggle for me. I was so disappointed when it shifts mood after the first minute or so, from something so dark, sinister and moody, to something happy-sounding, that I didn't even want to like it. Then I listened to it quite a lot more, and I realised the only real time it sounds 'happy' is the chorus. The rest of it, yeah the music changes after the first minute or so, but it's still quite a dark song to me, the guitars and lyrics still give off that vibe. Definitely become one of my favourites. Not that I haven't said that about almost all the songs so far.

GM, LMIRL and the title track have my favourite lyrics on the album at the moment. GM probably gets the nod for best lyrics on the album though

I don't see any part of LMIRL as happy, per se. Triumphant more than anything. It's a very ugly song lyrically.

[SMLiberator]

the lyrics on this album are extremely depressing.....

I think Phantom Bride finally clicked on me and holy shit the feels... overwhelming

Chino definitely wasn't kidding when he said the lyrics here weren't as optimistic as on DE and KNY

[NYRexall]

I'm going to walk back on what I said about Rubicon, because it's unfair. It's definitely growing on me with repeat spins. Still probably the most Deftones-sounding track on the album to me, but it's better now than my initial impression of it

H/W is having its merry little way with me now, too.

[NYRexall]

the lyrics on this album are extremely depressing.....

They're unquestionably dark in most cases, that's for sure.

This almost strikes me as the third album in a 'trilogy of doom' from the band, with S/T and SNW being the first two. The Cure also has a dark trilogy of albums, and I've always looked at SNW as the band's very own Disintegration

[gloomsquadron]

I love how they've melded their love of shoegaze and new wave on this. There's a thick atmosphere of doom and fatalism hanging over this entire thing, from the music to Chino's lyrics, which are some of the best I've heard from him on a Deftones record.

Some of you were commenting about how much Abe owns on this album, and that's no joke. His drums are incredible on this record, propelling every track from the moment he begins. Geometric Headdress alone is worth the price of admission, in that regard.

Yes! Thanks NY for putting it much better than I could have.

If no one has said it, I also think Sergio really stepped up on this album and cuts through all of the mixes, except when Steph is playing his insane 7th and 8th string notes which leads me to...

Steph's sound, though not as predominant as I would have liked, his tone is MONSTER!  I saw a few videos where he said he was languishing with his tone, not knowing what was wrong and when he finally got around to completely rebuilding his rig, he was happy.  The sustain at the end of Gore, though super silly for NEVER ending, rumbles any stereo I play it on.  I can tell this is an album he wasn't feeling and I can definitely pick which songs were his idea and which ones were Chino songs where they just let Steph go crazy at the end with a riff.  Like OK Steph, our song is done, you played the small parts we gave you, go ahead and add a metal riff here...chug chug chug.

Sorry if I'm repeating anything already stated, but I have ZERO friends IRL <---see what i did there, who love Deftones, I felt the need to at least express my opinion here.  I know it won't fall on deaf ears, that's for sure.  I've been a fan since 1999 and I still love them as much as I did from day one.  Great band.  Great fans!

p.s. does anyone know if Aaron Harris had anything to do with this album, ie. engineering or mixing?  It has a bit of his feel to it on certain songs.  I'm an audio engineer by hobby and it feels very "Palmsy" at some points.

[Lurid Vega]

I'm trying to work it out too. Chino lyrics not been this hard to decipher since ATF.

Acid is addicting as hell.

My favorite song from the album.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

[m1nusblindfoLd]

Woot! Can't get enough of this album!

[m1nusblindfoLd]

Damn..any way to resize a photo within the BBcode? [IMG=111x222] format doesn't work.

[NYRexall]

I love how they've melded their love of shoegaze and new wave on this. There's a thick atmosphere of doom and fatalism hanging over this entire thing, from the music to Chino's lyrics, which are some of the best I've heard from him on a Deftones record.

Some of you were commenting about how much Abe owns on this album, and that's no joke. His drums are incredible on this record, propelling every track from the moment he begins. Geometric Headdress alone is worth the price of admission, in that regard.

Yes! Thanks NY for putting it much better than I could have.

If no one has said it, I also think Sergio really stepped up on this album and cuts through all of the mixes, except when Steph is playing his insane 7th and 8th string notes which leads me to...

Steph's sound, though not as predominant as I would have liked, his tone is MONSTER!  I saw a few videos where he said he was languishing with his tone, not knowing what was wrong and when he finally got around to completely rebuilding his rig, he was happy.  The sustain at the end of Gore, though super silly for NEVER ending, rumbles any stereo I play it on.  I can tell this is an album he wasn't feeling and I can definitely pick which songs were his idea and which ones were Chino songs where they just let Steph go crazy at the end with a riff.  Like OK Steph, our song is done, you played the small parts we gave you, go ahead and add a metal riff here...chug chug chug.

Sorry if I'm repeating anything already stated, but I have ZERO friends IRL <---see what i did there, who love Deftones, I felt the need to at least express my opinion here.  I know it won't fall on deaf ears, that's for sure.  I've been a fan since 1999 and I still love them as much as I did from day one.  Great band.  Great fans!

p.s. does anyone know if Aaron Harris had anything to do with this album, ie. engineering or mixing?  It has a bit of his feel to it on certain songs.  I'm an audio engineer by hobby and it feels very "Palmsy" at some points.

Taken as a whole, this album is just as heavy to me as anything else they've done. It sounds absolutely monster-sized on more moments than I can count, often for long stretches of time. When it's not being heavy riff-wise, it's heavy with atmosphere, which is just as good to me.

Don't recall seeing Aaron Harris being mentioned in the album credits, but there's a definite influence from Chino's time with Palms in more than a few of these tracks