Review: Deftones - Diamond Eyes

I’ve always thought it was pretty unfortunate that Deftones tends to get lumped in with the nu-metal scene.  Sure, they started their careers right around the same time - and even in the same geographical area - as bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit, and they’ve continued appearing on tour with their supposed peers in the genre as the years have gone by.  But Deftones never did quite fit in.  Sure, they could be just as heavy as any other band in the scene when they wanted to, but beneath the testosterone-fueled riffs, there always seemed to be a bit more substance.  Their melodies were more unpredictable, their riffs more technical, their rhythms more complex, and Chino Moreno’s distinctive vocals lent an almost ethereal quality to the band’s music.  Deftones perfected this mixture of energy and atmosphere on their third full-length, 2000’s White Pony, which proved that even the nu-metal scene was capable of producing music with real depth and emotional weight (and, paradoxically, proved that maybe Deftones wasn’t just another nu-metal also-ran after all).  As great an album as White Pony is, the band has spent the last decade trying to create another album that measured up to its achievement, with mixed results.  To their credit, they haven’t exactly been stuck in a sonic rut, trying to recreate the sounds found on their breakthrough; on the contrary, their following albums have covered a variety of ground, from the dark, vaguely lo-fi brutality of 2003’s self-titled release to the sonic experimentation and progressive leanings found on 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist.  In keeping with this trend, 2010’s Diamond Eyes finds the band shifting directions once more, tightening up their sound into an intense, intricate, and efficient juggernaut.  Does it escape the ever-looming shadow of White Pony?  Maybe not quite.  But it does offer a whole lot nonetheless.

For starters, Diamond Eyes has Deftones playing more tightly than ever.  The whole band locks into riff after propulsive riff, blazing through some of their most technically-challenging material yet.  If anyone ever doubted these guys’ playing ability, songs like “Rocket Skates” and the title track should serve as proof to the unconverted.  Drummer Abe Cunningham shines throughout the album, ably tackling unpredictable time-signature changes and locking in with guitarist Stephen Carpenter’s crushing riffs.  Speaking of Carpenter, the guitar playing on Diamond Eyes is fantastic, featuring some of the heaviest material of the band’s career.  (Of course, the fact that Carpenter made use of an 8-string guitar for roughly half the album, bringing gut-wrenching, Meshuggah-like low notes in abundance, certainly doesn’t hurt in the heaviness department.)  But each riff, no matter how punishing, exists as part of a finely-crafted and, yes, catchy song, buoyed by Chino Moreno’s signature vocal acrobatics. Moreno’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics and Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to singing - consisting of, at just about any given time, either a sigh-like, almost feminine whisper or a blood-curdling shriek - give each song a unique identity and, depending on the song, underscore or starkly contradict the mood set by Carpenter and the rest of the band.  For an idea of the range Deftones display on Diamond Eyes, listen to “Cmnd/Ctrl” and “Sextape” back-to-back.  The former is a raging cyclone of screaming and low-F-sharp-string chugging, while the latter is an ethereal ballad, almost reminiscent of something The Cure or U2 would have come up with twenty years ago.  And they’re both awesome.  The fact that the band can seemingly change identities on a dime like that is what makes them so interesting and satisfying to listen to, and it’s the expert execution of both these identities that makes Diamond Eyes such a compelling album.  It may not be as much of a game-changer to the metal scene as White Pony was back in the day, but it’s hard to complain when the results are still this good.

Rating: 4/5

Standout Tracks:
“Diamond Eyes”
“Sextape”
“Rocket Skates”
“You’ve Seen The Butcher”

Release Date: May 4, 2010