Album review: DEFTONES – Gore

Reprise Records [Release date 08.04.16]

Deftones are a band who have never really caught my attention. The angst ridden vocals of Chino Merino coupled with the band’s usual soft, explode on chorus, then soft again is not too bad in isolation but a bit wearing over the course of an album.

On the first couple of listens Gore appeared to be much the same. I played it in the background whilst doing other things and true to form it did wash over me with little impact. On the third listen however my opinion was changed. On this occasion I was listening to the album in the car at high volume and it all started to make sense.

Opening track, ‘Prayers/ Triangles’, does follow the tried and tested soft, loud, soft path and did reinforce my thoughts on the band, however the following two songs, ‘Acid Hologram’ and ‘Doomed User’, are more full-on and at volume sound more hardcore than lilting. This is a theme that continues across a number of the tracks including ‘Geometric Headdress’ and on the title track ‘Gore’.

There are others which don’t quite hit the mark in my book including ‘Phantom Bride’, which features guitar work from Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains, but I did find a lot to like here which was a bit of a surprise.

I can’t see me running out to buy the band’s back catalogue based on this album, however I think I now have a better understanding of what Chino and co. are all about. The key is to take time to listen to the album and the louder it is the more impact it has, turn it up! ***1/2

Review by David Wilson

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