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Legendary metallers release their latest epic. Deftones were one of the leading
lights of the Nu-Metal scene, mixing heavy artillery guitars with cosmic sounds
and Chino Moreno’s heavenly pipes.
Injured bassist, Chi Cheng, does sadly not appear on this record and the ‘Eros’ album he was making has been pushed back accordingly.
The opener is the titletrack and its pretty much trademark Deftones.
Unforgiving guitar lines, set alongside Chino’s beautiful wailings, with the occasional scream – it’s almost like ‘Minerva’ and that’s a good thing. ‘Royal’ adds more of a defining rhythm and a typically atmospheric guitar. This is
another strong effort and shows why the band brought metal to the mainstream.
‘CMND/CTRL’ continues the band’s evident love of computer jargon songtitles and like many of the previous (from ‘Saturday Night Wrist’), it’s a great deal heavier, though still quite enjoyable, just less melodic. ‘You’ve Seen the Butcher’ eventually turns itself into one of the more pleasing-sounding tracks with some
on-the-money and likeable bridges. Maybe a little repetitive, but it’s a nice change of pace.
There’s a very mainstream sound about ‘Beauty School’ with an initially prog. rock beat, before Moreno’s vocals take you to that place that not many singers do with his enormous vocal
ability. This is where the band really shows their diversity and this is a
wonderfully chilled effort. ‘Prince’ returns the band to their darker (‘Adrenalin’) roots and this is a probing tune. There’s an incredible anarchic feeling about this and it’s a wonderful change of pace for the record.
Single, ‘Rocket Skates’ further returns the band to what they do best – thunderous guitars and Moreno ever at ease with it. It’s more like their early records, yet still sounds fresh, somehow! Things get a
bit more melodic on a twanging guitar intro on ‘Sextape’. Continuing the band’s love-hate relationship with the fairer sex, there’s something very reminiscent and melancholic about this. Not many bands can take
you to a higher place, but this does.
‘Risk’ is far from it in terms of style and situates the band at their self-titled
record in terms of sound. There’re more beautiful vocals and a rhythmic guitar beat, very much their trademark. ‘976-EVIL’ continues the more positive vibes and really stretches Moreno’s voice to unvisited levels. It’s got a nice, likeable stop-start rhythm about it, which flows wonderfully
around the unmatched vocals. Finally, ‘This Place is Death’ is another thunderous affair that has more trademarks of the band’s music about it. The inspiration may well be connected to Chi’s struggle and the group certainly show their strength here.
Released - 4/5/10
Label - Warner
6th studio album
- Diamond Eyes
- Royal
- CMND/CTRL
- You’ve Seen the Butcher
- Beauty School
- Prince
- Rocket Skates
- Sextape
- Risk
- 976-EVIL
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What we have here is almost like a ‘Greatest Hits’, in that the band explore virtually all of their range of sounds on previous
records. Though it’s not new, it sounds fresh and this is probably their strongest since ‘White Pony’.
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X-Factor starlet and quirky-sounding Egg-Nog-ex, Diana Vickers, releases her
debut record.
Anyone who watched the show last season knew that Vickers had a radio-like
voice; what they didn’t know is that she’d get a lucrative record deal on RCA with the likes of Cathy Dennis and Björk writing for her.
Opener, ‘Once’ is an off-the-wall synth-laden pop tune. Dennis’ one contribution, it also features co-writing credits from Vickers – which she does throughout, impressively. It’s a dare-I-say-it, quirky, pop tune that is no surprise how it has scaled the
charts.
‘Remake Me + You’ is co-penned by Ellie Goulding and has all of her fast-paced electro stylings
about it. Perhaps Goulding should have kept this for her record, or perhaps
Vickers just delivers it finer?
A thumping beat, earthy vocals and a catchy pop bridge (if somewhat clichéd lyrics) power ‘The Boy Who Murdered Love’. It’s fairly likeable, enjoyable; but hardly spectacular. Things get a dare sight
mellower on ‘Four Leaf Clover’ - about a break-up, of course. It’s actually got a nice incandescent feel about it and comes as an unexpected
change of pace. It’s on ‘Put it Back Together’, however, that the record really takes shape. A beautifully-delivered vocal
bridge strings this together. A song about recovering, it’s just the right mix of vocal and production.
Things go a bit uptempo, at just about the right time on ‘You’ll Never Get to Heaven’, a tune rather cheekily penned about awful dancing. The lyrics are clever,
witty and the pop production takes over brilliantly. ‘Me & You’ is a husky love song that actually breaks into your psyche, quite unannounced. ‘My Hip’ goes for the ridiculously catchy pop-hook route and invades just as well.
Another love song, its Ronson-esque production serves it well.
The melodic anthem track is ‘N.U.M.B.’ which features minimal production – just the piano and Vickers – it works very well too. We can thank Björk and the Sugarcubes for a tremendously off-the-wall 80s revival on ‘Hit’, featuring one of the finest beats of its category you’ll hear – how could the song fail?! ‘Notice’ is nice too, with the aforementioned, stripped-down production – just a great example of a powerfully-delivered simple song.
There’s another hit alert on the wonderfully-infectious, ‘Jumping into Rivers’. Gradually building into a pop belter, it’s intelligently structured, authentically-delivered and just a great tune, with
a real summer feel about it. Finally, ‘Chasing You’ brings back the legendary 80s melancholic synth to good effect. The vocals are
high as you like and work well.
Released - 3/5/10
Label - RCA
Debut studio album
There’s a reason why Vickers will grab the #1 spot – because it’s one of the freshest records you’ll hear this year. Structurally strong, it mixes infectious powder pop with
stirring ballads – with one key ingredient, a great voice. Well done, Diana, an unexpected stellar
debut record.
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(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2010
