Whenever I first heard the Deftones, I thought they were Nu Metal. I thought that because a) they were definitely marketed as part of that moment in time by the music video channels and b) I wasn’t one who was going to discern – it was all noise to me.
Later on, I read some admiring reviews of this band (not this album though) I heard the term “alternative metal” thrown around. I’d become a fan of alternative metal in the interim. I figured I should check them out.

It took a while – a very long time – but I finally have but I don’t know if this was the album I should have begun with. Ah well.
I understand the decision to market these guys as Nu Metal. They are not exactly commercial and maybe associating them with more popular, otherwise seemingly unmarketable bands seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus Moreno almost raps at times. Almost.

I mostly like the music – it’s a little too commercial to be metalcore but there is a bit of a stylistic similarity at times, but there’s clearly much more of an attempt to attract listeners. (I mean, you can sing a long to some of this but you cannot sing along to most metalcore, or at least not very well.)

I can’t say I love the lyrics (the ones I can make out). I know that observing is not condoning but I can’t always tell whether these lyrics are observation or more personal and there’s a least one song on which I cannot really relate to it at all.

In addition to not loving the lyrics I guess I just like my metal harder or more diverse. Taht’s not to say I don’t like this but merely that I would like it if it was either harder (closer to metalcore) or more diverse (closer to Faith No More).

Still, it makes me more interested in White Pony which, I’m told, is their best album.

7/10