The Evolution Revolution

When commercial success is mixed with current trends in rock music, the result is usually a significant loss of creative musical direction and perhaps most notably, loss of credibility. Sacramento’s finest rock group, the Deftones, have managed to comfortably ‘buck the system,’ staying out of the lime light, while still enjoying a degree of commercial success and evolving musically the whole time. None of this was more evident in 2001, when the band released “White Pony,” a moody and emotional, effects-laden album; a stark contrast from their previous two heavier, more streamlined ‘rock’ albums. With this came their first taste of true commercial success, and the stringent backlash of fans touting them as ‘sell outs.’Thus is perhaps the reason their new, self-titled album has much more raw, heavier sound, all the while blending in touches of abstraction with emotionally charged lyrics. The band brilliantly presents a full landscape of moods and emotions, giving each song a true, genuine feeling. The album is also characteristically ‘Deftones;’ soaring from the heaviest, scorching metal to faint lulls echoed with softer, downbeat tempos. In the end, the Deftones flex all their musical muscles, teaching a genre (namely nu-metal) the correct way to evolve.