Three long years after
Deftones issued their self-titled album to puzzling reviews, the Sacramento quintet is back with
Saturday Night Wrist,
a recording that will further muddy the waters about who they are and
what they're trying to do. After the breakthrough metallic-sounding
Around the Fur, the band confounded critics and fans alike with the much softer and atmospherically adventurous
White Pony.
In 2003 they further transgressed the borderlines of all things boxed
and tied with their self-titled album, which seemed to walk the line
between rockist and "sensitive." But it's
Saturday Night Wrist
that fills out the portrait, bleeding though textures from one rock
& roll type to another and coming up with something else altogether
yet definitively "
Deftones." The album began with a question and a small conflict in deciding on a producer. Already working with the hip
Dan the Automator, after some internal drama the band decided on veteran
Bob Ezrin.
Ezrin
pays off in a number of ways: these songs, as diverse as they are, are
utterly disciplined sonically. They have all the tension and dynamic,
all the immediacy of yore, but the mix is spacious, and
Chino Moreno's vocals soar above it. That said, the vocals were produced by
Far's
Shaun Lopez.
The wall of guitar sound walks a high wire between harder, more
metallic rock and angular indie rock, winding them together. Check the
opener -- and single -- "Hole in the Earth." It begins with a wall of
feedback and thunderously distorted guitars accented by rim shots and
cymbal fire before giving way to a skeletal six-string figure that seems
barely able to support
Moreno's singing, which combines the euphoria of a young, less pretentious
Bono with the attack of, well,
Deftones. Guitars echo and whisper all along the backdrop while
Moreno hovers there, until they crackle and spit to bring him back.
Popping muddy drums and distorted guitars introduce "Rapture," as
Moreno
gobs and screams the lyrics. Even here, the attack is straightforward
as it turns and twists, all on sharp corners and rhythmic shifts. There
are killer digital dub effects put into play on "Cherry Waves," giving
the tune a bit of a blessed-out psychedelic effect as the band marries
together the hookery of the vintage
Smashing Pumpkins, the big chord riffs of
Jane's Addiction, and
U2's best shimmer while tossing in a bridge of eight bars from
the Who's "Overture" from
Tommy! It might have been a terrible mess, but it works beautifully.
System of a Down's
Serj Tankian helps out with additional vocals on "Mein," and
Giant Drag's
Annie Hardy helps out on "Pink Cellphone" (what a dumb title). The drippy space pop that is "Xerces" finds
Moreno breathing a little too close to
Billy Corgan
for comfort on the verses. The gear-grinding guitars on
"Rats!Rats!Rats!" are a welcome textural change, and the crunchy verse
and refrain are downright nasty. The most straight-ahead rock attack
comes on "KimDracula," with its bass throb and whiteout guitar riff; it
pushes
Moreno a little further outside the tune to come to terms with it. Ultimately,
Saturday Night Wrist
is satisfying, though it may take a few listens given all the changes
in individual cuts that tend to blur together the first time or two
through. To the faithful,
Deftones
once again offer up their own brand of blast and croon. As for everyone
else, there's plenty here to like, to argue with, and to be puzzled by.
tags: deftones, saturday night wrist, 2006, flac,
