Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Deftones - White Pony (2000)

When you consider how much drugs were (allegedly) up the noses of the band members circa the time of this release, it is a wonder anything vaguely coherent got recorded at all!  'White Pony' sits as an odd item in my record collection, given that I don't enjoy nu-metal, yet this having been said I have every release from "Around the Fur" up to and including "Koi No Yokan" sat in my collection in one guise or another.  I think that the non- nu metal parts of 'White Pony' are the most appealing though.  The combination of the emotion, melody and atmospheres on display here make for one challenging listen overall.

For all the "angry teen with a knife" angst in the jagged delivery of much of the record, there's tangible, drug-fuelled emotion in the form of Chino's vocals as he hazes and gazes his way throughout the 11 tracks on show.  Add to this Delgado's extraordinary use of his keys to stamp some bone-chilling atmospherics to proceedings (that, 'The Shining-esque' stab at the entry to the chorus of 'Change (in the House of Flies)', for example).  Carpenter's deft use of downtuned riffage compliments were required without him ever feeling too restrained to be able to dish out some melody when appropriate.

Whilst the high points may seem obvious, 'Passenger' and 'Change (In The House of Flies)' are exemplary partnerships of complex, hallucinogenic feelings and thoughts, given air time on one of the best auditory assaults of disjointed and disharmonious music of the 90's.