Review by Saxy S for Deftones - Adrenaline (1995)

As a self professed Deftones fan, I can say with the utmost honesty that Adrenaline is the album of their's that I return to the least often. And it is not because I consider it to be the bands worst album; it isn't. But when I think of the Deftones and their legacy, Adrenaline is the album that I am the least likely to refer newcomers towards. It's the one that is the most unlike that of the rest of their discography, and probably the one sound that the Deftones are more than likely not to return to.

It is still very much their record though: I can hear lots of mending with the vocals and guitar tones in post-production to give it a unique flare. The grooves are still very much in line with what the Deftones would provide us with later on in their careers.

But it also contains some of the bands most blatant nu-metal trending tones. And I understand why they did it; it was a very popular trend at the time and catching on to the bandwagon would be a surefire way of getting their name out there. And it worked. Chino has a fair number of faux rapping sections on this LP and they are as cringe as someone like myself would expect, looking back on a twenty-five year old record!

But the lyrics aren't apart of the problem. I've talked about in recent reviews that the lyrical content of nu-metal records is whiny, underprivileged and the anger is undeserved. The Deftones do not have any of these stakes involved since most of the lyrical content is nonsense. It may be a stretch, but I have a feeling this band did not want to remain in the nu-metal trend for very long, only to allow for moderate name recognition.

The compositions are also nothing unexpected from a Deftones record. I really enjoyed how the first three songs, "Bored", "Minus Blindfold" and "One Week" all have similar riffs and lyrical motifs and how they connect together, even if they are distinctly original ideas. I wish that songwriting process could have been enacted on the rest of the record. Sound wise, the heavily filtered guitars were quite distracting for me. I know that it's apart of the groups character, but a more authentic sound could have helped. I think what disappoints me more is that around the time of this albums release, nu-metal was all for messy mixing and heavily filtered guitars. A more natural sound would have made this album resonate far more than it did.

I like a few of the compositions on this record, but as I just mentioned, the production held them back from true greatness. Overall, I think that Adrenaline served its purpose adequately for the Deftones and they managed to refine that sound in 1997 with Around the Fur, considered by many to be the best record in the subgenre. But it's what the band would become in the next millennium that would elevate them to legendary status in my ears.