Deftones - Diamond Eyes

A month later than planned…

I have an incredibly soft spot for Deftones, their third, career defining album ‘White Pony’ soundtracked the summer I sat my GCSEs, contained the heaviest thing I had ever heard at that point (‘Elite’) and introduced me to the band of a certain Maynard James Keenan, a band for whom my love can only be described (much like Jesus) as ‘a bit gay’.

'White Pony’ set them apart from the nu-metal bands they were lumped in with following their debut ‘Adrenaline’ (and the dreadful ‘Back to School (Mini Maggit)’ which butchered the beautiful, epic ‘Pink Maggit’), to me, they always seemed to have much more in common with Sacramento cohorts Far and Will Haven than Limp Bizkit or Korn.
In the intervening decade (!!!) the Deftones’ output has been solid, but not spectacular, their self titled album, released in 2003 and 2006’s ‘Saturday Night Wrist’ followed the blueprint set out by ‘White Pony’ vaguely experimental at times, crushingly heavy one minute, hauntingly quiet the next.

The follow up to ‘Saturday Night Wrist’ was initially planned not to be ‘Diamond Eyes’, but ‘Eros’, but this (partially recorded) was put to one side in late 2008 when bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a car crash, which put him in a semi-conscious state(which he remains in). Instead, the band went back into the studio with former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega and recorded ‘Diamond Eyes’ in just two months.

‘Eros’ was/is according to front man Chino Moreno weird, atmospheric and very very heavy, three things which partially to it’s detriment, ‘Diamond Eyes’ is not.

Despite the fact it was recorded in such a short period of time, and without pro-tools (which they started using after 1997’s ‘Around the Fur’), ‘Diamond Eyes’ sounds a little flat in places, a touch MOR metal.

Perhaps as they reportedly “practised [the songs] a million times ‘til they were perfect”. The songs do almost sound too…arranged…lacking, at times, much of a spark. Take the breakdown at the end of the opening title track, done properly, this kind of thing can feel akin to an earthquake, here though, something’s missing, it just sounds a bit…wet.

After giving a month or so to settle in, I still couldn’t tell you how many of the songs go, that lack of spark, making them to my ears and brain, rather forgettable, and at times, a little dull.

Two songs that don’t fit that description, arrive just after the halfway mark, as I usually start to lag, I’m hit with round the chops with ‘Rocket Skates’ and Chino screaming “GUNSRAZORSKNIVES” over a beast of a riff, this is followed by the most serene and beautiful moment on this record, ‘Sextape’ is simply gorgeous, a hint of the band’s electronica leanings, and Chino’s voice at it’s softest, it’s just about perfect.

Moreno’s voice is used to staggering effect throughout, just look to ‘Royal’, where he’s given the opportunity to show what he can do, velvety smooth croon to trademark squeal (like a pig when you big f*cking big f*cking argh. Eh? Eh?)

The problem with ‘Diamond Eyes’ isn’t that it’s a poor album, but in fact something that’s more difficult to pinpoint, it seems almost too tight, I’ve always heard a lot of space in Deftones’ previous work, but can’t find it here, it is what it is what it is. Deftones by numbers.

I’ve read an awful lot of very positive reviews of ‘Diamond Eyes’, I hope eventually, it’ll win me round too.

Pathetic, Indulgent, Self Pitying Blog Post #1

Warning: this blog post may make you want to slap me in my face.

So, last Friday I turned 26. And?

Not a particularly significant age, 25 possibly, 26, no. But it seems that all the guff that comes with hitting one of those milestones deferred itself for a year, probably in no small part to something that happened when I was a mere spring chicken at 24 ½ (what? If kids can use half years, so can I).

The day before my birthday, I got stuck in a rut of going through all the crap stuff… 2 years after starting a (intended) stop gap job, I’m still doing it (not for lack of trying), it’s incredibly unfulfilling, not to mention the pay. Shouldn’t I be starting to develop a career by now? Why didn’t I take more productive A-Levels? Should I have gone to uni? I’ve begun questioning my ability write (hence the lack of recent posts), something very important to me. Why, at 26, as close to 40 as to 12, do I still feel like a flupping man-child, surely I should be firmly in the territory of the former? Not reading comics and thinking about buying an Xbox 360.

My son would have been 15 months old had he arrived on his due date, with no complications. That, particularly, sucks.

Thankfully though, the lovely H (who, if I had gone to uni, I would probably not have met, thus negating that problem entirely) managed to talk me down, (although not able to convince me that I not more stupider than I are a couple years ago) and I went on to have a very enjoyable, if uneventful birthday. Thank you Missus.

This post, as I’m sure you’re aware by now, is something of a mess, I’ve heard it said that writing stuff down can help you gain some perspective. And that’s what this was for.

I’ve got such white middle class ‘problems’.

I refer you to the warning at the beginning of this post, having read this through, I actively encourage it.

Minus the Bear - Omni

There was a period during 2007 when, virtually all day, every day, I got to listen to what ever music I wanted to. I was working in a job I hated, but the freedom to listen to the music I love made it considerably easier.

Minus the Bear’s third album, ‘Planet of Ice’ released that year, was on the very heaviest of rotations. For two and a half months, I listened to that record every day, somehow, never becoming remotely bored of it. Now, two and a half years later, it easily places in my favourite 3 albums.

So to say that ‘Omni’ arrived bearing the weight of my expectations would, indeed, be putting it mildly.

It is worth noting that this is the first Minus the Bear full length not to be produced by former member Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis) but by Joe Chicarelli (Radiohead, The Shins, err.. Kajagoogoo) as this change, in hindsight at least, appears to have been a signal of intent

Judging by the two pre-release singles; ‘Into the Mirror’ (and it’s b-side ‘Broken China’) and ‘My Time’ it was clear that ‘Omni’ was going to be much lighter in tone, and perhaps depth, than it’s predecessor, the opening salvo of the aforementioned ‘My Time’, ‘Summer Angel’ and ‘Secret Country’ (the latter featuring a little cod-reggae guitar work) are three of the sunniest, barbeque-and-beer inducing songs you are likely to hear all year.

This, is, without question, a big Pop album, much slicker (in a kind of 80’s Miami Vice kind of way – when they tour I wouldn’t be shocked to see them in white suits, no socks, sleeves rolled up) and more accessible than it’s predecessors , it’s also very synth heavy affair, and drum machines play a much larger part than ever before (not to say that the live drumming isn’t still skattishly exemplary, at times, reminiscent of The Police’s Stuart Copeland, which is no bad thing).

‘Omni’ is short of, amongst other things, any real lyrical variety. Minus the Bear have always written, what are essentially, fundamental inconsequential songs about the fairer sex, but previous records have strayed from that subject, this record does not. This habit becomes particularly cringe worthy during the otherwise enjoyable ‘Excuses’ when front man Jake Snider sings ‘I’m into you…when you hear this song, you’ll say…you’re into me too”. It may just be me, but I cannot stand songs that refer to themselves as such in anything but title.

The two tracks that close the album, Minus the Bear at their laid back best, ‘Dayglow Vista Rd.’, and ‘Fooled by the Night’ floating over you, the perfect soundtrack to a long summer night.

Ultimately though, Omni is the weakest Minus the Bear album to date; it lacks the urgency of ‘Highly Refined Pirates’, the warmth of ‘Menos el Oso’ and the intricacy of ‘Planet of Ice’, and any real defining qualities of it’s own. Which is a damn shame. Having said that, it is still a Minus the Bear record, so I will be listening to it. All. Bloody. Summer.

It’s worth having a listen to the instrumental version in the download section of minusthebear.net, to hear Secret Country in all it’s awesomeness well, if you’re a raging fan boy that is.