Review by Rexorcist for Deftones - White Pony (2000)

At first I found Feiticeira to be standard Deftones, pretty much recalling half the songs of Around the Fur.  But Digital Bath surprised me with a soft and soothing Digital Bath that remained consistent through Chino's earnest vocal delivery.  And then we have the crazy and noisy Elite, where Chino's gone and decided not only to shout like a black metal artist, but add SOUND EFFECTS to his vocals.  And you know what?  It freaking works, because the guitars are working hard to recreate these same emotions displayed.  And then there's my favorite song on the album, Rx Queen, which is partly about artistic instrumentation and partly crypticism.

The whole album acts like this and stays catchy and emotional throughout pretty much the whole album.  I never knew what was going to happen next, and I had heard this album once before and completely forgotten what it sounded like.  Fuck, Teenager sounds like a goddamn Radiohead song!  Like something off Amnesiac!  And you know what?  It's a GOOD Radiohead song.  Even if we had only one genre to work with, Deftones could deliver a plethora of different kinds of songs.  But instead, they grace us with other influences ranging from shoegaze, grunge, post-metal, hardcore punk, post-hardcore, rap metal, etc.  They are all over the 90's rock spectrum with this metal album.  Their cryptic lyrics have a powerful, gothic and sometimes gruesome imagery about it, as if we took the layout of a Cobain song and applied Nick Cave topics.  Although, if I had to fault it for anything, by the end it becomes a bit much.  It's just a LITTLE overlong due to its two lengthy last songs.

This is a constantly engaging alt-metal release, and the kind that doesn't need to rely on solos or any metal tropes to complete its emotional goals.  This is all about being carried away by alternative metal and into a journey of self-awareness and reflection.  This is something only a handful of alternative bands of done, notably bands such as Tool or Alice in Chains.  In a way, during a time where "alternative rock" had become the radio staple it was never meant to become, White Pony acts as a fairly pop-structured alternative to what we're used to hearing with all of its weirdness and honesty.  So I feel like there's only one thing left to do: put this in my top five alternative metal albums.