Personal Classic # 1 — Deftones — White Pony.
This is the first in a series that I hope to keep doing about albums that I absolutely adore, every album I cover I list in my top tier of albums. I say top tier because my favourite album does genuinely change day to day. Mostly I will discuss the album and why I love it in detail; think of it as somewhat academic fan-boying. One more little preface; I will be discussing the album with the song “Back To School (Mini Maggit) omitted. It’s not the version I’ve listened to the most and honestly; although it is a good single, the band didn’t issue it with the album originally and have even stated that it was put there by marketers once it was re-issued. It starts the album on the wrong foot for me, though it does add some artistic benefit giving the album a slight cyclical nature. However I am getting ahead of myself, too the album at hand.
Deftones are a Californian metal band formed in the late 80’s with key members including Stephen Carpenter, Chino Moreno and Chi Cheng. First releasing Adrenaline in ’95 followed by Around The Fur in ’97 they worked hard to develop a reputation as a Hardcore but experimental, and honestly very catchy, outfit that offered an alternative to Grunge and (more particularly the metal scene) Death metal that began to rise in the rock community during the fading years of the ‘90’s. Whilst the recording of the tricky third album began an outbreak occurred, a plague hitherto unseen by man. NU-METAL!
I jest but in all seriousness the first metal genre to dominate the mainstream charts since the success of hair metal in the ‘80’s had hit for better or worse (mostly worse.) Although I can put on some nostalgia goggles and can enjoy some songs from Linkin Park and Papa Roach there is no denying that a lot of the other acts from that time are just plain bad. However the label saw $$$ and began pushing Deftones as the next big nu-metal band. Except they wasn’t. Sure the previous albums had Chino spit out his lines with a lyrical edge, but it was a stretch to call it rapping. Sure Carpenter’s guitar work was filled with riff after riff, but they were punchier and more complex than the simple structure of a nu-metal track. And the band sure as hell didn’t think they were nu-metal. So instead of going against the label and being kicked they released an album so far from nu-metal that any listener sure wasn’t going to confuse them for Alien Ant Farm; they released their masterpiece; White Pony.
This was the lead single from the record. Bit of a far cry from “Crawling” eh? They picked up Frank Delgado on keyboards/electronics and never looked back. Blending elements of shoegaze, electronica and dream-pop, cuts with anaemic electronics are scattered all over the album giving them a sound unlike many of their peers and making them stand out. They weren't the next big band, nor did they try to be. They were simply the Deftones.
With the context out of the way I’m going to describe the album; i’m not going to go through track by track, hopefully I’ll entice you to discover (or re-discover) it on your own. If I were to describe White Pony in one word, five years ago it would be melancholic; today however I would use nihilistic. Whether as a response to the label mis-representing them or the increasing tensions in the East and the doomsday prophecy floating around at the time. Or even as a response to the generally innocent and upbeat demeanour most pop music had at the time, i don’t know. All I know is this album wallows in it’s own pity and I love it. The stripped back production creating a hollow sound, the electronics adding eerie robotic-ism and a melancholic nature to the undercurrent of the tracks. To the lyrics that deal with apathy and directionless lives being lead. It all creates a beautiful yet dreary soundscape, cut through with a knife when some of the more harsher and destructive tracks roll around.
Hell it even kicks off with “Feiticeira” which have the gnashing riffs that Deftones were known for. “Elite” later into the track listing has the harsher vocals that Chino used so often on Adrenaline with a monstrous riff that lets you know that yes Deftones are a metal band. But it’s the electric bliss of tracks like “Change” and “Digital Bath” that define this record and helped to re-define who Deftones were. The punchy drums and drone influenced guitars create an isolated yet powerful sound that Chino’s vocals perfectly match up to. Their are even some indie-rock influences that can be seen in some of the guitar work, but if I were to describe every aspect of the band’s sound I would be here longer than people would care to read.
However I do want to make special mention of two tracks, “Passenger” which was my favourite originally and “Knife Prty” which is my personal track of the album now. “Passenger” is a duet between Chino and Maynard James Keenan, of Tool fame. The fact that two of the best metal vocalists in metal history did a duet was more than enough for me, and many other people to call it the track of the album. The meandering riffs and floaty electronics give this song a fateful sound, which is accentuated when looking into the story of the song. However in recent listens I have felt that the bass is lacking somewhat, not giving the song enough of a complete sound. “Knife Prty” however is one of the best songs Deftones have committed to an album. It’s some weird drug-induced fever-dream of a song detailing the capture and murder of several people, cheery stuff I know. However it’s how the song is constructed is so fascinating. These powerful riffs sweep the song along, and for the most of the song is undercut but screaming/somewhat operatic vocals. As with the rest of the album, the excellently produced drums really give the song nuance and grace without being too overbearing, which so many bands can fall victim too under the guise of being “hardcore.” The lethargic vocals only add to the theme, and despite being far from the heaviest song on the record, it’s definitely the most destructive. It’s beautiful and brutal and honestly that is all any great metal song should be.
When listening to music I remove myself from the equation, it’s why I haven’t discussed what it means to me, or how significant it was a point in my life or anything like that. It’s escapism. I just listen to music to experience wonderful art, which is what White Pony is. A reverie of irreverence, it followed no trend and carved it’s own little place in metal history. It changed the Deftones for the better, and they have been releasing quality material for 20+ years now, with the quality always being high. (Save the self-titled record.) Since White Pony the band’s record have always followed the sounds and vibes they discovered seventeen years ago, and these sounds make them like no other band. They are metal, electronic, hardcore, dream-pop, shoegaze and whatever else you can undoubtedly find in their sound. People like putting things in nice little boxes, but this band refuses to stay there. They are all of the above and more; they are Deftones.
