Deftones, from Sacramento, California, brought a new heavy metal sound to the masses. Their first album Adrenaline (Maverick, 1995) was influenced by metal mastodons such as Black Sabbath and Metallica.
But the work also expresses relative aggression on "Engine No 9" (their 1984 debut single) and delves into heartbreaking drama on "Fist" and "Birthmark."
While the album mostly remains in the shadow of rivals Korn and Nirvana, the band show a more mature approach to dealing with psychological issues in their songs.
Deftones group development
Around The Fur (Maverick, 1997) expands the band's sound with songs like "My Own Summer (Shove it)", "Rickets" and "Be Quiet and Drive" turning anger and aggression into real music.
Vocalist Chino Moreno is the first reason to listen to the album: his vocal style becomes more refined and versatile in this work.
"Adrenaline" and "Around The Fur" were hits for a generation that listens to melodic grunge. With "White Pony" (Maverick, 2000), Deftones achieved a classic and subversive sound. Drummer Abe Cunningham and bassist Chi Cheng form a powerful and subtle musical duo. Guitarist Stephen Carpenter and DJ Frank Delgado add color to Chino Moreno's vocals.
The music's garish violence is paired with deep, erudite lyrics that deal with alienation and the search for meaning in life. Where Korn and Tool are teenage music, Deftones are grown-up philosophers.
For example, the quiet and creepy composition “Digital Bath”, which is sung as if in a dream, is a real masterpiece of a philosophical song.
With their next album, Around the Fur, the Deftones are still balancing between heavy sound and lyricism. But they also lean towards pop sound trends.
"White Pony" - the band's third studio work, turned out to be the most successful commercially. In this album, the band added notes of shoegaze and trip-hop. Therefore, the record became the band's starting point from the classic sound of nu metal.
World Recognition
The next self-titled album features songs with emotional vocals by Chino Moreno over heavy guitar riffs. The record reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. This is perhaps the best result of the musicians in the entire existence of Deftones.
In October 2005, Deftones released a two-disc set of rarities and old recordings, and returned a year later with a new full-length studio album, Saturday Night Wrist.
In 2007, Deftones began work on a work called "Eros", which was supposed to be their sixth album. The album was put on hold indefinitely when bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a serious car accident that left him in a coma. In 2009, Cheng was replaced by Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega and the band returned to touring and recording an album.
Although the planned "Eros" was still unreleased and gathering dust on the shelf, in 2010 the band released a new album "Diamond Eyes". Cheng partially recovered in 2012 and returned home to rehab.
But he was not in good shape to appear on the group's seventh album, Koi No Yokan, which was released later that year. Despite his recovery, Cheng died of cardiac arrest on April 13, 2013, at the age of 42.
Sunset of creativity
In 2014, to mark the anniversary of his death, Deftones released the track "Smile" from their unreleased album Eros. Two years later, the band returned with their eighth album, Gore, released in April 2016.
The band members themselves talk about the frivolity of this work and its cheerful mood, unlike all previous records.
