Deftones - Gore

Deftones
Gore
2016
Spotify

The Deftones have always balanced on a line between beauty and chaos, or maybe those two things just happen to be the same for them. 2000 White Pony was one of the best hard rock albums of it's day and ushered in a band that it seems would do almost anything, even coming close to blows, just to make sure their music gets out. Their aggression has never been violent, perhaps due in part to Chino Moreno's incredible voice, but more operatic like an entire drama is unfolding from their guitars. Though they often are put in the same breath as Korn and Limp Bizkit their music is done as so much more of a high level bringing an instrumentation to a genre that was at it's core just about volume.  Gore the new record however has a bit of a new sound. The music is crisper, more honed this time around giving the album a more polished more easily accessible for the layman. That doesn't mean the Deftones have dumbed it down for the masses, it just means they took a more methodical approach this time around, not hoping for magic but making sure that magic would happen. What is the most surprising thing about Gore is just how of the moment it is. These songs exist in their own space and let the world come to them, just as the Deftones want it.

There is a small shoegaze element to Gore, as their is with much of "new metal", but it is never overwhelming, just enough to bring the element to the table but never let it overpower the rest of what is being offered. There is less of an electric guitar feel to this record making it less about that power rock and more about the darker, more hidden, things going on. Where a great deal of hardcore and new metal in general for that matter would get their power from playing on the usual tropes the Deftones never fell into that trap. Their music was always much more personal and much more connected even if the scale was super massive. It might be hard for non-fans to really get into this record just because of what it is, but if you get past the surface and let Gore was over you, you are in for a real treat. There seems to be almost no let up from the first song which means for the 11 tracks you are along for the ride whether you like it or not. But then, 48 minutes in you realize you come to the end and something special has came and went and left a little piece of itself with you. "(L)MIRL" really burried at track eight has this elevated sound that sounds like one of the most complete things that the Deftones have done. It's time to put aside those old prejudices and give Gore and the Deftones a shot. The music that they have always created, always deserved an album like Gore.

8.1 out of 10