Deftones - private music (Album Thread)

[Draken]

So, fantano gave it a 7.Thoughts on that? I feel an 8 would be fairer but Im taking it. I do not agree on his view of souvenir but I think he was on spot this time.

For Fantano, a 7 is fair. He doesn't seem to like Deftones, and Deftones fans kinda loathe him... I can appreciate his articulate reviews but fuck him he knows nothing about good music. And yes, I disagree with him on souvenir too. It's a good song, I do think the song synth outro could've been shorter however.

[Inkblades]

I enjoy some of his non-review videos and Twitch streams, but my issue with him as a critic is he's an internet influencer first and a music critic second, so he's naturally going to flock to what he thinks is going to get him the most clicks, views, subscribers, Patreon members, etc. I get preferring pm over Ohms, but I don't think there's such a huge gap in quality where the former is a 3 and the latter is a 7, so I do kind of wonder how much of him giving this a positive review is "Gen Z likes Deftones? I better get on board". 

[Draken]

Track by track MMIAM is a favorite on the album. Simple, yet it's such an unmistakable Deftones groove, and I personally like the theme of the song. What shines here is Chino's vocal melodies (perhaps Steph had songs like this in mind when he mentioned how amazed he is with Chino's vocals after completing the music). It grew on me with on each listen.

Locked Club was a surprising track (in a good way), admittedly, when I first read the track listing I judged it right away. I'm so glad I ended up liking it as much as I do, probably one of my favorites on the album. Reminds me a lot of the band Kowloon Walled City, I love the spoken verses and its straightforward abrasiveness.

Ecdysis reminds me of something off of Gore (in a good way) even though I don't like that album. Starts out with that Filter-esque bass line from Gerbil, then breaks out into the chorus, it's extremely infectious. I find myself playing it in my head all the time.

I get a 311 vibe from Infinite Source, I could easily see 311 doing a song like this. The ending especially is very 311. Would be fucking SWEET if they covered it. I can see why this caught on with people, it's a very poppy and accessible track. it's not bad, just not my tempo.

Souvenir is another personal favorite. It starts out slow maybe a bit dull but around the 2 min mark it REALLY begins to open up to an epic song. I LOVE Chino's songwriting and lyrics here. It definitely has a Deftones trade mark sound while also exploring around. The synth outro should have been shortened by half. Even 45 secs is already kind of a long outro for that song.

Ok so the first half of the album is my favorite. After this track I feel the album loses me a little. When CXZ kicks in it goes hard and I like the intensity, the song is not as interesting or diverse in it's sound, but basically it's just one of the album's faster more intense songs which is fine. I loved the visualizer when I first heard it, my gf still doesn't like the song that much but I don't mind it at all. It's more of that frenetic energy that's threaded within the album.

ITAYATT I don't have anything really nice to say so I'll just say it was disappointing. Sextape was better. I always fall in love with the idea of what a Deftones song COULD be based on the titles and what I hear others say (Zane Lowe) but it's a skip for me.

MOTM wasn't impressed on first listen but now that I have heard the whole album it's a banger. One of the best on the album, I hate that the chorus is ALWAYS in my head though, my gf and I look at each other sometimes randomly and we both know what we're thinking... "HoLy gHost... I'm oN FiiiiRe!". It just has this fast energy like alot of the other tracks here but it also has this desperation in the verses that I find to be strangely appealing.

Cut Hands. Deftones doing their Deftones thing with some vibes reminiscent of CMND/CTRL (a song I don't care for) but this time I think they did a more refined version, and I don't know if I like the weird voice modulator thing. The ending is literally EXACTLY the same as DE, why no one is talking about that more IDK. I think people are already talking about Steph's writing but, it could have been a banger song if they worked it a little more.

Metal Dream is an alright track but not a standout, it's just kinda there. Don't care for the verses at all, and that's about it, I don't have much to really say about it other than that.

Departing the Body is a great closer, Chino does this Mike Patton voice? (I thought of Tom Waites first) in the beginning and toward the end of the song. The story is Chino was recording ideas for the song in a hotel room or something and didn't want to be loud so he recorded it like that and Nick heard the tape and told Chino to just sing it that way... wish he wouldn't have... oh well, you take artistic chances, sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Obviously there are lots of people who love that choice and that's why it's ok. Again, just not what I like.

Overall a good album. It's what I wish Gore would have been.