I will live and die by the last six Deftones albums and, therefore, I am a fan of the metal band Deftones.
That's barely got anything to do with it to be honest. There's less nu-metal on Around The Fur than non-nu-metal (yeah I know that's a badly put sentence). Around The Fur is phenomenal. For a band to reach those heights on their sophomore album, to make a record so viscerally exciting and powerful, yet so subtle and advanced in its songwriting is absolutely crazy. Shove It is iconic and anthemic, yet is one of the least good songs on the album. Mascara is amazing in its simple, sinister power. The title track... honestly, that drum groove playing off with Chino's percussive breaths, into the verse and that huge chorus, never mind the bridge into the outro.... amazing. Be Quiet And Drive is one of Deftones' greatest masterpieces, with the most unique and captivating vocal melody, alongside that level of sonic power. Lotion is a brilliant example of the heavy/melodic dynamic that they do better than any other band. Dai The Flu... the way that intro builds up and explodes, then dies down again for the verse and then up again for the chorus... God, what a song. MX is weird and slow and heavy and sinister and beautiful and just ridiculously brilliant. Damone is HUGE. The whole record is just flawless from start to finish. White Pony is and will always be their creative zenith. The layers and depth of Around The Fur are less tangible than on White Pony and, sonically, every album that followed it. They're there in spades but it's more subtle. That, however, is part of what makes Around The Fur so great. The power, the chemistry, the heaviness, the melodies, the songwriting hooks, the choruses, the subtle little things they put in. If I were to rank their discography, there would be the tiniest of margins between Around The Fur and White Pony (my favourite). That's how brilliant Around The Fur is. If you like Deftones and don't like Around The Fur then I can't argue with you because I don't know how to relate to that. The only thing I can say is that if you think it's a bad album, you are utterly wrong.
For some reason Deftones is always my go-to "chill out" stuff. Up in the air between Diamond Eyes and Koi, but I'll throw either one of those on and kill a couple beers before heading out for the night.
ATF is good i get why someone wouldnt enjoy it but i think deathco at least appreciates what the album has done and i think thats fine to just leave it at that. as for me i def prefer WP onward but ATF has some gems ofc. Koi is underrated and Swerve City is like, THE underrated Deftones song to me. Koi has that SNW feels of just being perpetually underrated despite being critically adored for the most part. WP, S/T, and DE are of course wonderful and immensely satisfying to listen to for me. ive only just recently gotten into this band as documented in either this thread or the Gore thread and those 3 records already mean quite a bit to me. Gore is real good and given time I may appreciate it more and more but for right now its kinda mid tier. here we go S/T WP DE KNY Gore SNW ATF
Always love seeing self-titled at the top of people's lists. S/T KNY WP SNW/ATF Gore/DE Adrenaline Besides the top 3 and Adrenaline, this always changes tbh. I'm due for a revisit of those four albums for sure.
My list changes a good bit, but my top three and bottom two have pretty much remained the same for about a year or so now: DE WP Gore SNW KNY S/T ATF Adrenaline
WP DE S/T KNY ATF Gore SNW Adrenaline All between WP and Adrenaline are fairly interchangeable. I love them all.
Top 5: 1)Feiticeira 2)Passenger 3)Be Quiet 4)Sextape 5)Royal Honorable mentiones: Lhabia, Beware, You've Seen The Butcher, Entombed, When Girls, Hexagram, Pink Maggit
"Passenger", "Change (In The House of Flies)", and "Pink Maggit" is one of the best three song endings to an album I can think of.
When I was listening to WP the other day it just hit me like a ton of bricks that Pink Maggit is soooo good. It often gets overshadowed by me compared to Passenger, and Change. Also along with the other Deftones closers. That guitar when it comes in with he drums knocks me on my ass.
Played White Pony a few times a couple of weeks ago after not hearing it for a few years and it still sounds so damn fresh and exciting. Just that short guitar intro to Street Carp gets me from 0 - fucking psyched in no time flat. I honestly can't think of any other band that has been operating as long as they have without seeing a decline in their output.