Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Deftones - Adrenaline (1995)

So here's the thing.  For a guy who doesn't particularly like nu-metal, Deftones occupy a hefty portion of artists beginning with "D" in my music library.  I first got turned onto them after a brief drift away from metal saw me return and immediately become enamoured with Diamond Eyes and I subsequently worked my way back to the greatness of White Pony as I checked out their back catalogue.  Somehow I never got beyond Around The Fur though.  For no logical reason my sub-conscious told me that the debut album would not be for me as although I enjoyed Around The Fur it still bordered on being a little too nu-metal so by proxy the debut would be way too much.

I was wrong.  To a point.  Whilst Adrenaline clearly is dripping with nu-metal it's greatest challenge is that it is not entirely well written or composed.  Now, given the fact that this is the band's debut record some slack has to be cut, however the band had already been together (albeit with an unstable line-up) for seven years at this point and I still would expect a little more deftness in the songwriting department after nearly a decade of trying to get a debut together.  The thing that saves the record for me though is the application (be it intentional or not) of the taut emotion that broods throughout the record, occasionally peering out from the at times directionless and uniform music to show the first glimpses of what really started to take hold on White Pony some five years after this.

This recognisable trait is the saving grace for me.  Having started later in the bands's discography I can forgive it being in this raw and misfiring state as it gets drip-fed through the under-developed riffs, sterile production and lazy vocal delivery.  I know it is sub-par but it is entirely understandable as I know that they honed this primitive sack of reactive feelings and on later records used it as sentiment and sensation to deliver some meaningful and memorable records.

Taken as a standalone debut album it makes virtually no waves in my lake, but knowing the rivers it feeds further on it increases in importance almost organically.